The issuance of a covered bond programme by authorised issuing institutions must have prior administrative approval from the Banco de España in accordance with the provisions of Royal Decree-Law 24/2021.
Article 34 of the Royal Decree-Law sets out the authorisation requirements, which include most notably the appointment of a cover pool monitor for issuance facilities.
Only credit institutions, including the Official Credit Institute (ICO), may issue these covered bonds, which may use the label European Covered Bond or European Covered Bond (Premium) if they comply with the requirements set out in the above Royal Decree-Law.
In addition, the Royal Decree-Law attributes to the Banco de España the following powers regarding covered bonds:
- Authorisation to continue to be part of an intragroup structure for covered bonds that have reduced their credit quality to step 2 (article 13.3).
- Authorisation for the extension of maturity of covered bonds issued with extendable maturity structures (article 15).
- Authorisation for the dismissal of the external cover pool monitor (articles 31.9 and 36.1.g).
The necessary requirements in each case are set out in the corresponding articles.
Issuing institutions and list of bonds with the label European Covered Bond
Pursuant to Article 38 of the aforementioned Royal Decree-Law, the Banco de España will publish the following information on its website:
- the list of credit institutions authorised to issue a covered bond programme and the type of covered bonds for which such authorisation is valid;
- the list of covered bonds eligible to use the label European Covered Bond and the list of covered bonds eligible to use the label European Covered Bond (Premium).
List of issuing institutions and covered bonds reported to the Banco de España as at 30 April 2025 (monthly update)
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