The Norwegian Covered Bonds market

Norwegian covered bonds are attractive to investors looking for high-quality instruments with low credit and market risk.

Covered Bond legislation

The Norwegian covered bond legislation is a modern and up to date legislation that provides investors strong protection from the cover pool.

  • Only specialised credit institutions may issue covered bonds

  • Supervised by The Financial Supervisory Authority of Norway

  • Norwegian covered bonds are compliant with the Capital Requirement Directive and are eligible as collateral in ECB

Covered Bonds outstanding

  • 24 issuers of covered bonds in the Norwegian market

  • The largest issuers present in the international capital markets 

  • Around EUR 130 bn. Norwegian covered bonds outstanding

Read more about Norwegian covered bonds in the Norwegian chapter in ECBC's European Covered Bond Fact Book.

New EU-framework in place

The EU-harmonised covered bond framework entered into force in Norway on the 8th July 2022. This implied some amendments in the existing framework, for instance the introduction of a new 180-day liquidity buffer and two separate classes of covered bonds; "OMF standard" and "OMF premium."

Covered bonds issued under the previous legislation (i.e. issued before 8th July 2022) will keep its regulatory treatment until maturity of the bond. 

The Financial Supervisory Authority of Norway (FSA) is obliged to publish a list over the issuers who has the permit to issue covered bonds ("OMF") under the new framework. The list is available at the FSA's homepage (Norwegian only).

More information on the details of the new framework is available at the European Covered Bond Council's comparative database.

The Norwegian Covered Bond Council

The Norwegian Covered Bond Council (NCBC) was founded in January 2010 and is the voice of the Norwegian covered bond industry.

NCBC objectives 

  • to promote the points of view of the Norwegian covered bond issuers in dialogue with authorities and other stakeholders
  • pay attention to trends and changes in international legislation.
  • provide information and statistics about the Norwegian covered bond market and its issuers to investors and other stakeholders
  • represent the interests of  Norwegian covered bond issuers by participation in international covered bond associations
  • act as a network and platform for the exchange of information between its members

Board

Arve Austestad, SpareBank 1 Næring- og Boligkreditt (chairman)
Marianne Lofthus, Sør Boligkreditt
Ole Andre Kjerstad, Møre Boligkreditt
Børre Gundersen, Nordea Eiendomskreditt
Sigve Husebø, Verd Boligkreditt
Dag Hjelle, SR-Boligkreditt
Hans Olav Rønningen, DNB Boligkreditt
John Hopp, Sparebanken Vest Boligkreditt
Odd Arne Pedersen, Eika Boligkreditt

Secretariat

The secretariat is provided by Finance Norway.

Harmonised Transparency Template

Finance Norway and The Norwegian Covered Bond Council recommends that all Norwegian issuers make use of the Harmonised Transparency Template (HTT)

The international covered bond market consists of issuers with different structures and characteristics. Use of the HTT will increase transparency and comparability and is thus recommended for all Norwegian issuers. The HTT has replaced the Norwegian Transparency Template released in 2012.

Harmonised Transparency Template for Norwegian issuers

In conjunction with the introduction of the HTT, a working group was established to assess the HTT in light of the original Norwegian Transparency Template and Norwegian specificities. The result was minor amendments to the HTT including common definitions in the harmonised glossary.

The HTT is only mandatory for issuers with a “label” from The Covered Bond Label Foundation. Norwegian issuers with such label are DNB Boligkreditt, Eika Boligkreditt, Nordea Eiendomskreditt, Sparebank1 Boligkreditt, SR-Boligkreditt, Møre Boligkreditt, Sparebanken Sør Boligkreditt and Sparebanken Vest Boligkreditt. However, Finance Norway and The Norwegian Covered Bond Council recommends all Norwegian issuers to use the HTT.

Updates:

The HTT has now been updated to the 2024 version. 

Download:

List over amendments in the HTT
HTT Norwegian issuers 2024

Contacts at Finance Norway