Standard & Poor’s said on Tuesday that a Swedish Bankers’ Association proposal to suggest a reduction in the required level of amortisation to a 50% LTV ratio could help reduce asset-liability mismatch (ALMM) risk in covered bond programmes, but highlighted that issuers have already reduced this since 2008 by extending the duration of their funding.

Amortisation of new mortgage loans down to 50% of a property’s value in line with a Swedish Bankers’ Association recommendation on Tuesday of last week (7 October) would be beneficial, according to Moody’s, while an analyst suggested it could head off further binding measures from Sweden’s authorities.

The Swedish Bankers’ Association has suggested changes to the prevailing Basel III proposal for a Net Stable Funding Ratio to rectify what it sees as punitive treatment of covered bonds and incentives for banks to favour less stable funding sources.

The Swedish Bankers’ Association has called for liquidity assistance by central banks to be included in reporting of encumbered and unencumbered assets in a response to a European Banking Authority (EBA) consultation that finished last Thursday (20 March).

The Swedish Bankers’ Association is lowering guidance on the LTV threshold above which new mortgages need to be amortised from 75% to 70%, while Riksbank governor Stefan Ingves said there is a case for increasing the mortgage risk weight floor to 25%.

Thomas Östros, managing director at the Swedish Bankers’ Association, spoke to Nordic FIs & Covered about the state of the Swedish banking sector, risks stemming from the NSFR, the potential for regulatory overreach, and more.