At a markup hearing on Wednesday, June 22, 2011, the House Financial Services Committee once again passed covered bond legislation, sending it to the House floor for a vote of the full House. The bill was approved by a comfortable margin of 44 to 7, reflecting the strong bi-partisan support for covered bonds, but this masked the tension and close voting on a pair of amendments sponsored by Congressman Barney Frank at the request of the FDIC. It seems, therefore, that the legislation stands a good chance of adoption by the full House if and when it is voted on.

Prior to the introduction of the Frank amendments, amendments were introduced by Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), Congressman John Campbell (R-CA) and Congressman Scott Garrett (R-NJ). Mrs. Maloney’s amendment4 responded to an FDIC concern by extending from 180 days to one year the period for the FDIC to find another bank to assume a covered bond program of a failed bank.