Leather coating binder and coated leather having good embossability and wet-flex endurance

An aqueous leather coating composition and a method for coating leather with the aqueous coating composition are provided. The aqueous coating composition contains an aqueous emulsion polymer which includes from 0.4% to 10% by weight of a copolymerized acetoacetate or acetoacetamide monomer and has a glass transition temperature from -20° C. to 10° C. In an alternative embodiment the aqueous coating composition contains an aqueous emulsion polymer which includes from 0.1% to 6% by weight of a copolymerized acetoacetate or acetoacetamide monomer and from 2% to 15% by weight of copolymerized carboxylic acid monomer and has a glass transition temperature from -40° C. to 0° C., the polymer having been contacted with a transition metal oxide, hydroxide, or carbonate at a pH less than 9 in an amount greater than 0.20 equivalent of transition metal per equivalent of copolymerized carboxylic acid monomer.