New production of non-mortgage ABS slackened during the third quarter as several key sectors retreated from unusually strong volume numbers in the previous three-month period. A new Inside MBS & ABS ranking and analysis reveals total ABS production fell 16.7 percent from the second quarter to $49.43 billion. That brought year-to-date volume to $162.18 billion, up 15.5 percent from the first nine months of 2016. Unless production tanks in the ... [Includes two data charts]

Requirements for asset-level disclosures for certain ABS fell off of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s most recent regulatory agenda but the issue remains on the regulator’s radar, according to industry participants. Asset-level disclosure requirements for MBS and ABS have been a concern since 2010 when the SEC proposed revisions to Regulation AB. Some of the so-called Reg AB2 revisions were ultimately finalized in 2014, establishing disclosure requirements for ...

The election of President Trump and Republican control of Congress initially prompted optimism among MBS and ABS issuers for significant easing of regulatory standards. But with comprehensive legislation from Congress looking unlikely, the focus has shifted to federal agencies, according to speakers at the recent ABS East conference sponsored by Information Management Network. “Expectations have had to be reset post-election,” said Ryan Schoen, a senior financial services analyst at Washington Analysis, a research firm. He said he doesn’t expect much regulatory reform from Capitol Hill. While the House passed H.R. 10, the Financial CHOICE Act, this year, the Senate is taking a more measured approach. “The Senate doesn’t seem...

Servicers of loans in MBS and ABS responded to recent hurricanes by aiming to limit investors’ losses while also showing consideration to borrowers. Practices vary across asset types, particularly in the MBS market. A number of issuers and servicers at the ABS East conference produced by Information Management Network last week in Miami Beach said they suspend collection-related calls to delinquent borrowers in the days immediately following a hurricane. Servicers also stressed that it’s important to hear from borrowers to better understand whether loss mitigation might be necessary. Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and federal government entities involved in the mortgage market issued...

S&P Global ranked as the top rating service in the non-mortgage ABS market during the first half of 2017, with strong market shares in the major asset categories, according to a new ranking and analysis by Inside MBS & ABS. S&P rated $69.54 billion of ABS issued in the first half of the year, roughly 60.1 percent of total issuance by dollar volume. For all of 2016, the company finished second in ABS ratings with a 53.6 percent share of the market. S&P had...[Includes two data tables]

Demand in the secondary market for credit risk could help increase issuance of prime non-agency mortgage-backed securities, according to industry analysts. A significant number of investors at the ABS East conference last week said deals across the MBS and ABS markets have been oversubscribed, with the supply of new issuance in recent months seen as insufficient. The conference was produced by Information Management Network in Miami Beach. Peter Sack, a managing director at Credit Suisse, said...

MBS and ABS investors have more cash than they know what to do with, according to participants at the ABS East conference sponsored by Information Management Network this week. “Liquidity is strong across the spectrum and probably the best we’ve ever seen for structured products,” said Scott Levy, a senior managing director at Guggenheim Securities. He noted that three years ago, some of the securities the firm was involved with had 15 investors; now, similar deals might have 70 investors. “There’s a lot of demand and a lot less supply,” Levy added. More than 4,100 people registered...

An affiliate of Interval Leisure Group priced a timeshare securitization last week as the market for such deals keeps humming along. Timeshare securities are backed by vacation ownership interest loans that tend to perform relatively well and carry attractive yields. Some $2.0 billion of timeshare ABS have priced this year, according to S&P Global Ratings. In all of 2016, $2.6 billion of timeshare ABS was issued, according to the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association. VSE 2017-A VOI Mortgage from ILG is...

A dispute involving the liquidation of a vintage collateralized-debt obligation has the potential to upend standard practices and confidence in the securitization industry, according to the Structured Finance Industry Group. Senior investors in Taberna Preferred Funding IV – a $673.3 million CDO issued in 2005 – are seeking to force a liquidation of the deal via bankruptcy. The bankruptcy is being pursued by a group of investors identified as Opportunities II Ltd., HH HoldCo Co-Investment Fund, L.P., and Real Estate Opps Ltd. The investors appear to have purchased senior tranches of the CDO only in recent years. SFIG filed...

Issuers of ABS are utilizing diverse structures to comply with the risk-retention requirements of the Dodd-Frank Act, according to a new sector commentary by analysts at Moody’s Investors Service. “Although securitization sponsors’ retention of portions of their own deals in general is credit positive … the rules have effectively just formalized prior common industry practices for many consumer ABS subsectors. This confirms our initial stance that the rules are only marginally credit positive for this sector,” said Vice President and Senior Analyst Yan Yan and Vice President and Senior Credit Officer Jingjing Dang. “That said, the methods of compliance that have emerged among ABS asset classes since the rules went into effect in December have varied.” Their first take-away is...