The ICMA Covered Bond Investor Council will next week begin discussions with stakeholders on three themes that emerged in a consultation it held on transparency standards due to be finalised by year-end. A CBIC official said yesterday (Monday) that it is mindful of the need to strike a balance between investors’ needs and any resultant burden on issuers.

The investor body will hold conference calls, with members and others that responded to its consultation, on three areas: investors’ needs and additional fields; clarification of definitions and concepts; and format, frequency and access.

Speaking at an ABI/AFME securitisation and covered bond conference in Milan yesterday, Nathalie Aubry-Stacey, secretary of the CBIC and director, regulatory policy and market practice at the International Capital Market Association, said that while investors require comparable, timely, frequent and easy access to data, the CBIC recognises the administrative burden and costs this could cause for issuers.

“It’s a matter of striking a balance,” she said.

During the consultation investors requested additional fields be added to the CBIC’s data list and this will be discussed as well as the issue of audited and unaudited data.

At their first meeting investors will discuss how an electronic platform proposed as an element of the project should work, as well as how frequently information should be provided.

The CBIC will also seek to provide clarification on some items on the data list that was consulted upon. It said that it welcomed some national issuer associations’ willingness to provide their own, standardised definitions and would consider feedback on circumstances where data may or may not be appropriate to any particular jurisdiction’s “national traditions”.

The CBIC said that alignment with other projects dealing with transparency will be borne in mind.

At yesterday’s Milan conference, Pontus Aberg, senior economist at the European Central Bank – speaking in a personal capacity – voiced his approval of the CBIC initiative when asked about a European Covered Bond Council labelling initiative and a parallel securitisation initiative, Prime Collateral Securities.

“[It] should also be very much welcomed,” he said.