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Organisational chart

Structure & Bodies

The ECBC is part of the EMF. As such, it is placed under the authority of the EMF Executive Committee and reports to it.

The ECBC has the following bodies:

• • Plenary

    The Plenary Meeting is a bi-annual discussion forum where all ECBC members gather around the table to discuss issues and to establish strong network links.

• • ECBC Chairman

    The ECBC Chairman is Mr Antonio Torío, Head of Capital Markets Funding at Banco Santander, who’s mandate runs from 1st January 2010 to the end of December 2011. During the same period, the ECBC Deputy Chairman is Mr Paul O’Connor, Head of Wholesale Banking at the Irish Banking Federation.

• • Steering Committee

    The Steering Committee, headed by the ECBC Chairman, and composed of representatives from the major covered bond issuing jurisdictions and industry experts, is responsible for the day-to-day activities of the ECBC. It comes together once every quarter and addresses strategy related questions. Furthermore, it coordinates the agenda of the various working groups. For a full list of Steering Committee members as of January 2010 click here.

• • '8-To-8' Market-Makers / Issuers Committee

    In September 2007, during its Plenary meeting in Berlin, the ECBC decided to set up a new body, the ECBC '8-to-8' Committee. The Committee is made up of eight representatives of issuers and eight representatives of market-makers, in order to provide advice at short notice and give cross-market recommendations for Jumbo market-making in situation of market disruption. The eight issuers represent the eight largest Jumbo EUR covered bond jurisdictions, and the eight market-makers represent the eight investment banks with the largest number of Jumbo market-commitments. Membership of this Committee will be reviewed every twelve months.

• • Working Groups

    The Working Groups convene to tackle specific technical issues. They draft position papers and submit them to the Plenary to be adopted. Participation in the Working Groups depends on the technical expertise required. It is open to both ECBC delegates and specialists from Member institutions in the required competencies.

    Since its start in November 2004, the ECBC has created six Working Groups. More working groups can be created according to the needs of the ECBC members.

• • Secretariat
    The EMF Secretariat coordinates the various ECBC bodies on a day-to-day basis. In addition, the Secretariat is responsible for the organisation of meetings and the preparation of agendas and working documents.

Working Groups

The Working Groups convene to tackle specific technical issues. They draft position papers and submit them to the Plenary to be adopted. Participation in the Working Groups depends on the technical expertise required. It is open to both ECBC delegates and specialists from Member institutions in the required competencies.

Since its start in November 2004, the ECBC has created six Working Groups. More working groups can be created according to the needs of the ECBC members.

• • EU Legislation
    The European Legislation Working Group, chaired by Mr Paul O’Connor, has over the past five years been closely following the debate on the Capital Requirements Directive (CRD) and has been successfully lobbying at EU level to obtain treatment that recognised the low risk profile of the instrument. In this respect, the group has drafted and passed comments to the European Parliament, Council and Commission, as well as monitor the implementation of the CRD into national legislation.
• • Technical Issues
    This Working Group, chaired by Mr Ralf Grossmann, represents the technical think thank of the covered bond community, drawing on experts from across the industry to tackle issues such as the use and treatment of derivatives in the cover pool, bankruptcy remoteness and collateral, producing a set of legal information unique at the European level which plays an important role in ensuring a high level of transparency of covered bonds.
• • Statistics & Data
    The Working Group on Statistics and Data, chaired by Mr Horst Bertram, is responsible for collecting and publishing complete and up-to-date information on issuing activities and volumes outstanding of covered bonds in all the European market segments. With 25 different covered bond jurisdictions and numerous issuers, the collection of data is of utmost importance, particularly given that the ECBC data is increasingly viewed as the key source of covered bond statistics
• • Market Related Issues
    The Market Related Issues Working Group, chaired by Mr Richard Kemmish, discusses topics such as minimum standards for Jumbo issuance, conventions on trading standards and the market-making process. The Working Group is currently leading the discussions on improving liquidity in secondary markets and is very active in facilitating the work of systems providers to improve their electronic trading platforms for covered bond trading.
• • Covered Bond Fact Book
    The Covered Bond Fact Book Working Group, chaired by Mr Wolfgang Kälberer, is responsible for the publication of the annual European Covered Bond Fact Book. This publication covers key themes in the industry, market developments, provides a detailed overview of legislative frameworks in different countries as well as statistics. It is increasingly being recognised as the reference for covered bond information.
• • Rating Agency Approaches
    Last but not least, this Working Group, chaired by Mr Reinolf Dibus, examines the rating approaches applied by rating agencies and has been active over the past year monitoring, analysing and reacting to the changes underway in covered bond rating methodologies.