The New Zealand Parliament has passed the Reserve Bank Covered Bond bill into law, establishing a legal framework for covered bonds well after its five biggest banks had already issued over NZ$11 billion of the bonds.The new law was designed to provide legal certainty over the treatment of cover pool assets if a bank was placed into liquidation or statutory management.The law also gives the Reserve Bank of New Zealand the power to allow entities other than registered banks to register covered bond programs.Parliament also passed the Non-Bank Deposit Takers (NBDTs) Bill into law. It implements a new regulatory regime that includes the prudential requirements already imposed under Part 5D of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand Act. It introduces new measures covering the licensing of NBDTs, assessments for directors and executives, restrictions on changes of ownership, and new powers for the Reserve Bank to detect and manage instances of distress or failure of NBDTs.