Article 129
Exposures in the form of covered bonds
1.
To be eligible for the preferential treatment set out in paragraphs 4 and 5 of this Article, covered bonds as defined in point (1) of Article 3 of Directive (EU) 2019/2162 of the European Parliament and of the Council ( 28 ) shall meet the requirements set out in paragraphs 3, 3a and 3b of this Article and shall be collateralised by any of the following eligible assets:
(a)
exposures to or guaranteed by central governments, the ESCB central banks, public sector entities, regional governments or local authorities in the Union;
(b)
exposures to or guaranteed by third country central governments, third-country central banks, multilateral development banks, international organisations that qualify for the credit quality step 1 as set out in this Chapter, and exposures to or guaranteed by third-country public sector entities, third-country regional governments or third-country local authorities that are risk weighted as exposures to institutions or central governments and central banks in accordance with Article 115(1) or (2), or Article 116(1), (2) or (4) respectively and that qualify for the credit quality step 1 as set out in this Chapter, and exposures within the meaning of this point that qualify as a minimum for the credit quality step 2 as set out in this Chapter, provided that they do not exceed 20 % of the nominal amount of outstanding covered bonds of the issuing institutions;
(c)
exposures to credit institutions that qualify for credit quality step 1 or credit quality step 2, or exposures to credit institutions that qualify for credit quality step 3 where those exposures are in the form of:
(i)
short‐term deposits with an original maturity not exceeding 100 days, where used to meet the cover pool liquidity buffer requirement of Article 16 of Directive (EU) 2019/2162; or
(ii)
derivative contracts that meet the requirements of Article 11(1) of that Directive, where permitted by the competent authorities;
(d)
loans secured by residential property up to the lesser of the principal amount of the liens that are combined with any prior liens and 80 % of the value of the pledged properties;
(e)
residential loans fully guaranteed by an eligible protection provider referred to in Article 201 qualifying for the credit quality step 2 or above as set out in this Chapter, where the portion of each of the loans that is used to meet the requirement set out in this paragraph for collateralisation of the covered bond does not represent more than 80 % of the value of the corresponding residential property located in France, and where a loan-to-income ratio respects at most 33 % when the loan has been granted. There shall be no mortgage liens on the residential property when the loan is granted, and for the loans granted from 1 January 2014 the borrower shall be contractually committed not to grant such liens without the consent of the credit institution that granted the loan. The loan-to-income ratio represents the share of the gross income of the borrower that covers the reimbursement of the loan, including the interests. The protection provider shall be either a financial institution authorised and supervised by the competent authorities and subject to prudential requirements comparable to those applied to institutions in terms of robustness or an institution or an insurance undertaking. It shall establish a mutual guarantee fund or equivalent protection for insurance undertakings to absorb credit risk losses, whose calibration shall be periodically reviewed by the competent authorities. Both the credit institution and the protection provider shall carry out a creditworthiness assessment of the borrower;
(f)
loans secured by commercial immovable property up to the lesser of the principal amount of the liens that are combined with any prior liens and 60 % of the value of the pledged properties. Loans secured by commercial immovable property are eligible where the loan‐to‐value ratio of 60 % is exceeded up to a maximum level of 70 % if the value of the total assets pledged as collateral for the covered bonds exceed the nominal amount outstanding on the covered bond by at least 10 %, and the bondholders’ claim meets the legal certainty requirements set out in Chapter 4. The bondholders’ claim shall take priority over all other claims on the collateral;
(g)
loans secured by maritime liens on ships up to the difference between 60 % of the value of the pledged ship and the value of any prior maritime liens.
For the purposes of paragraph 1a, exposures caused by the transmission and management of the payments of the obligors of loans secured by pledged properties of debt securities or by the transmission and management of liquidation proceeds in respect of such loans shall not be comprised in calculating the limits referred to in that paragraph.
1a.
For the purposes of point (c) of the first subparagraph of paragraph 1, the following shall apply:
(a)
for exposures to credit institutions that qualify for credit quality step 1, the exposure shall not exceed 15 % of the nominal amount of outstanding covered bonds of the issuing credit institution;
(b)
for exposures to credit institutions that qualify for credit quality step 2, the exposure shall not exceed 10 % of the nominal amount of outstanding covered bonds of the issuing credit institution;
(c)
for exposures to credit institutions that qualify for credit quality step 3 that take the form of short‐term deposits, as referred to in point (c)(i) of the first subparagraph of paragraph 1 of this Article, or the form of derivative contracts, as referred to in point (c)(ii) of the first subparagraph of paragraph 1 of this Article, the total exposure shall not exceed 8 % of the nominal amount of outstanding covered bonds of the issuing credit institution; the competent authorities designated pursuant to Article 18(2) of Directive (EU) 2019/2162 may, after consulting EBA, allow exposures to credit institutions that qualify for credit quality step 3 in the form of derivative contracts, provided that significant potential concentration problems in the Member States concerned due to the application of credit quality step 1 and 2 requirements referred to in this paragraph can be documented;
(d)
the total exposure to credit institutions that qualify for credit quality step 1, 2 or 3 shall not exceed 15 % of the nominal amount of outstanding covered bonds of the issuing credit institution and the total exposure to credit institutions that qualify for credit quality step 2 or 3 shall not exceed 10 % of the nominal amount of outstanding covered bonds of the issuing credit institution.
1b.
Paragraph 1a of this Article shall not apply to the use of covered bonds as eligible collateral as permitted pursuant to Article 8 of Directive (EU) 2019/2162.
1c.
For the purposes of point (d) of the first subparagraph of paragraph 1, the limit of 80 % shall apply on a loan‐by‐loan basis, shall determine the portion of the loan contributing to the coverage of liabilities attached to the covered bond, and shall apply throughout the entire maturity of the loan.
1d.
For the purposes of points (f) and (g) of the first subparagraph of paragraph 1, the limits of 60 % or 70 % shall apply on a loan‐by‐loan basis, shall determine the portion of the loan contributing to the coverage of liabilities attached to the covered bond, and shall apply throughout the entire maturity of the loan.
2.
The situations referred to in points (a) to (f) of paragraph 1 shall also include collateral that is exclusively restricted by legislation to the protection of the bond-holders against losses.
3.
For immovable property and ships collateralising covered bonds that comply with this Regulation, the requirements set out in Article 208 shall be met. The monitoring of property values in accordance with point (a) of Article 208(3) shall be carried out frequently and at least annually for all immovable property and ships.
3a.
In addition to being collateralised by the eligible assets listed in paragraph 1 of this Article, covered bonds shall be subject to a minimum level of 5 % of overcollateralisation as defined in point (14) of Article 3 of Directive (EU) 2019/2162.
For the purposes of the first subparagraph of this paragraph, the total nominal amount of all cover assets as defined in point (4) of Article 3 of that Directive shall be at least of the same value as the total nominal amount of outstanding covered bonds (‘nominal principle’), and shall consist of eligible assets as set out in paragraph 1 of this Article.
Member States may set a lower minimum level of overcollateralisation for covered bonds or authorise their competent authorities to set such a level, provided that:
(a)
either the calculation of overcollateralisation is based on a formal approach where the underlying risk of the assets is taken into account, or the valuation of the assets is subject to the mortgage lending value; and
(b)
the minimum level of overcollateralisation is not lower than 2 %, based on the nominal principle referred to in Article 15(6) and (7) of Directive (EU) 2019/2162.
The assets contributing to a minimum level of overcollateralisation shall not be subject to the limits on exposure size set out in paragraph 1a and shall not count towards those limits.
3b.
Eligible assets listed in paragraph 1 of this Article may be included in the cover pool as substitution assets as defined in point (13) of Article 3 of Directive (EU) 2019/2162, subject to the limits on credit quality and exposure size set out in paragraphs 1 and 1a of this Article.
4.
Covered bonds for which a credit assessment by a nominated ECAI is available shall be assigned a risk weight in accordance with Table 6a which corresponds to the credit assessment of the ECAI in accordance with Article 136.
Table 6a
|
Credit quality step |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
|
Risk weight |
10 % |
20 % |
20 % |
50 % |
50 % |
100 % |
5.
Covered bonds for which a credit assessment by a nominated ECAI is not available shall be assigned a risk weight on the basis of the risk weight assigned to senior unsecured exposures to the institution which issues them. The following correspondence between risk weights shall apply:
(a)
if the exposures to the institution are assigned a risk weight of 20 %, the covered bond shall be assigned a risk weight of 10 %;
(b)
if the exposures to the institution are assigned a risk weight of 50 %, the covered bond shall be assigned a risk weight of 20 %;
(c)
if the exposures to the institution are assigned a risk weight of 100 %, the covered bond shall be assigned a risk weight of 50 %;
(d)
if the exposures to the institution are assigned a risk weight of 150 %, the covered bond shall be assigned a risk weight of 100 %.
6.
Covered bonds issued before 31 December 2007 shall not be subject to the requirements laid down in paragraphs 1, 1a, 3, 3a and 3b. They shall be eligible for preferential treatment under paragraphs 4 and 5 until their maturity.
7.
Covered bonds issued before 8 July 2022 that comply with the requirements laid down in this Regulation as applicable at the date of their issue shall not be subject to the requirements laid down in paragraphs 3a and 3b. They shall be eligible for preferential treatment under paragraphs 4 and 5 until their maturity.
( 28 ) Directive (EU) 2019/2162 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 November 2019 on the issue of covered bonds and covered bond public supervision and amending Directives 2009/65/EC and 2014/59/EU (OJ L 328, 18.12.2019, p. 29).