The head of European covered bonds at Standard & Poor's has quit just six months after the credit rating agency created a dedicated team to cover the $2 trillion (€1.6 trillion) market.

Torsten Althaus spent more than five years in S&P's structured finance group in Frankfurt before taking charge of the new covered bond group that was set up in February to cater for the rapid rise in popularity across Europe of covered bonds, which are backed by mortgages or public sector loans.