Ireland Department of Finance secures Cabinet approval for covered bond reform allowing direct bank issuance and green programmes

Ireland's Department of Finance has published the General Scheme of the Asset Covered Securities Amendment Bill 2026 after securing Cabinet approval to draft the legislation, setting out an update to Ireland's covered bond framework. The main change is to introduce a universal banking model alongside the current specialist model, allowing banks to issue asset covered securities directly rather than through a specialist subsidiary. The scheme also includes changes to support programmes of specifically green asset covered securities. Under the proposed framework, banks could choose whether to operate as specialist or non-specialist issuers. Specialist issuers would continue largely under the existing approach, while for non-specialist issuers the Act's restrictions would apply only to their asset covered securities business. The Department frames the changes as a simplification that reduces the costs and structural inefficiencies associated with specialist subsidiaries and lowers barriers to entry for potential issuers. For green issuance, an institution would be able to apply for permission for a covered bond programme with a dedicated cover assets pool of green assets. The next steps are pre-legislative scrutiny by the Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation, after which officials will work with the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel to draft the bill on the basis of the published General Scheme.