SIFMA and ASF create covered-bond group

The Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association of Washington and New York and the American Securitization Forum of New York will jointly sponsor the creation of a U.S. Covered Bonds Council. Announced today, the council aims to be a collaborative forum for market participants to promote the U.S. covered-bonds market. It will work to develop a liquid and efficient market that fosters public confidence in such bonds. A steering committee with a rotating group of issuers, investors, dealers and legal advisers will lead the council. The following firms will have representatives on the committee's first roster: Bank of America Corp. of Charlotte, N.C., Barclays Capital of New York, BlackRock Inc. of New York, The Capital Group Cos. Inc. of Los Angeles, Citigroup Inc. of New York, Clifford Chance U.S. LLP of New York, Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. of New York, JPMorgan Chase & Co. of New York, Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc. of New York, Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP of San Francisco; Pacific Investment Management Co. LLC of Newport Beach, Calif., RBS Greenwich Capital of New York, Sidley Austin LLP of Chicago, TIAA-CREF of New York and Wells Fargo & Co. of San Francisco. Furthermore, the council will have a Regulatory and Legislative Working Group, a Technical Issues Working Group and a Traders Committee. Together with the Brussels, Belgium-based European Covered Bond Council, the U.S. Covered Bonds Council will "seek to foster global consistency in market practices and policies in the long run while recognizing the present regional and market maturity differences," a statement from the group said. In addition, the council's activities in the U.S. will be coordinated with the European Covered Bond Dealers Association, a recent SIFMA initiative in Europe, in the form of a dealers-only body. "The members of the council believe that covered bonds can and will offer a vital complement to existing funding sources for financial assets, particularly mortgage products," Sean Davy, managing director at SIFMA, said in a statement.