The ECBC is setting up a Brexit contact group and a maturity profiles taskforce following a steering committee meeting in Oslo yesterday (Wednesday), at which it was confirmed that NIBC’s Niek Allon is taking over early as chairman after the departure of Waleed El-Amir from UniCredit.

El-Amir left UniCredit last month to move to boutique investment bank Evercore, and in relation to this stepped down from his position as European Covered Bond Council (ECBC) chairman, which he had held since the beginning of 2016. Allon became deputy chairman at the time El-Amir’s appointment, with the ECBC’s incoming deputy typically taking over as chairman after a two year term. He has now been confirmed as chairman for the rest of what would have been El-Amir’s term. At an ECBC plenary, Allon (pictured) this (Thursday) morning expressed thanks to El-Amir for his work for the industry body.

Luca Bertalot, secretary general of the EMF-ECBC, announced the establishment of the two new groups. He said that the Brexit contact group would make sure that the British are treated fairly as they exit the EU, while also “building a bridge” between the UK and continental Europe.

A taskforce will also focus on covered bonds with extendible maturities – whether soft bullets or conditional pass-throughs (CPTs) – which Bertalot noted is an area that the European authorities have focused on.

Florian Eichert, head of covered bond and SSA research at Crédit Agricole and chairman of the ECBC statistics working group, said that the group would seek to educate the authorities on the complexities arising from different structures and also work towards creating common minimum standards for CPTs and soft bullets. He noted that regulators should be aware that innovation is an important part of the market and that some areas should be left to market initiatives, but at the same time said that standardisation would reduce the argument that there are too many differences.

Didier Millerot, DG Fisma, European Commission, said that the language of hard and soft bullets might have to be changed in any regulations given that it is reminiscent of Gunfight at the OK Corrall.