Resource Items: regulatory legislative and legal

July 22, 2010 saw the introduction of a new version of proposed covered bond legislation — H.R. 5823 — to supersede a previous version (H.R. 4884) with the same title, the "United States Covered Bond Act of 2010."  While similar in many ways to the previous version, H.R. 5823 also presents some significant differences.

To download a PDF (31 pages) of the full text of the new bill, click on "H.R. 5823" under "Attachment," below.

Canadian covered bonds are the topic of a reference article by John Mackle in Westlaw Business titled "Covered Bonds: Canadians Do Debt in Europe" (May 26). The article's premise is that with recent Canadian covered bond issues raising billions, "the legal nuances of the covered bond will soon be a topic for discussion in many boardrooms."

Michael Durrer, lead partner on Sidley Austin LLP's covered bond team, is a member of the influential U.S. Covered Bond Council.  The law firm justifiably describes itself as a "pioneer" in the covered bond field, having "acted for the issuers in establishing the first two covered bond programs in the U.S.," as well as "representing the arrangers on the first U.K. structured covered bond program."

Very few U.S. lawyers actually have practice experience in the arena of covered bonds.  In that small group is Howard Goldwasser, "one of a handful of U.S. lawyers who led the development of covered bond programs for issuers based in Canada, Mexico and Brazil and to have introduced them to the U.S. capital markets."