New fixed-income products often attract pet names from market participants and commentators. Sadly, in the covered bond sector, the emergence of the UK product came and went without a catchy nickname being dreamt up.
But Finland's version should not suffer this fate. The first Finnish benchmark covered bond, from Sampo, is being affectionately called a Finbrief; a neat meld of nationality and the ubiquitous label for the granddaddy of all covered bonds, the German Pfandbrief.
It's a lot better than what one banker had in mind for the fast-developing market in Ireland. His coinage for Irish covered bonds, the "Paddybrief", has fortunately not caught on.