The European Covered Bond Council’s covered bond label is “off the ground”, said Paul O’Connor, chairman of the ECBC at the council’s plenary in Munich today (Wednesday), with 51 applications received from issuers across at least 14 countries.

A first meeting of the Label Advisory Council, which with a Label Committee forms part of the governance structure of the Labelling Convention, took place yesterday (Tuesday), he added.

“It’s a key step forward,” said O’Connor, encouraging further issuers to consider applying for the label. “If we can build more critical mass we all stand to benefit.”

He said that while the label might not carry benefits on day one, it would do so in the medium term. The next concrete moves for issuers that have entered upon the labelling process will be for them to self-certify compliance and commit to and work on transparency elements of the initiative.

The labelling convention was welcomed as an important “starting point” by market participants on a panel at the plenary.

Benjamin Sahel, market operations analysis at the European Central Bank, said that although the label was at a starting point, he was excited about it. He said that the ECB will monitor its progress and take it into account further down the road.

François Haas of the Banque de France said that the project is in the interest of issuers and investors, but warned that having embarked upon the initiative, the market would lose credibility if it does not work.

And Andreas Denger of MEAG said that the Covered Bond Investor Council was “not really happy” with the situation of the label as it is, but said that the investor body is supporting the project because they see that it has the chance to improve transparency and covered bonds’ regulatory treatment.

Antonio Torio, head of funding at Banco Santander, said that the ECBC acknowledges that the label is “imperfect” in its current form.

Changes to the membership of the ECBC steering committee were also announced, which for a transition period will operate as a larger group than before. The Austrian and Norwegian covered bond markets will for the first time be represented on the steering committee, by Katarzyna Kapeller and Helge Stray, respectively.

The investment banking contingent of the steering committee is also changing, with Torsten Elling of Barclays Capital and Julia Hoggett of Bank of America Merrill Lynch becoming members to replace Philipp Waldstein of UniCredit group and Steffen Dahmer of JP Morgan.

The steering committee membership changes are effective as January 2013.