Fitch is including environmental, social and governance relevance scores as part of its ratings of securitized products. The scores help assess sustainability and ethics though they aren’t a major factor in credit ratings.

Presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren has flagged concerns about the issuer-pays model used by credit rating agencies for securitized products. She said the SEC hasn’t done enough to address the conflicts of interest tied to the model.

A whole business securitization from TGI Friday’s was downgraded by Kroll Bond Rating Agency. Meanwhile, two such deals hit the market.

If the U.S. economy enters a recession, MBS and ABS are expected to perform relatively well, according to S&P. Subprime auto ABS, certain commercial MBS and CLOs are most at risk for downgrades.

The securitizations of auto loans and leases could be adversely affected by an expected decline in vehicle sales, according to rating services.

A new private activity bond will fund construction of tolled express lanes near Washington, DC. Toll revenues on similar bonds have been strong and rating services affirmed BBB ratings on outstanding issuance.

Fitch Ratings called out other rating services for allowing credit enhancement levels that it views as inadequate on ABS from marketplace lenders. Other rating services are seen as getting more comfortable with the sector.

Rating services are getting more comfortable with ABS and MBS stocked with loans originated by marketplace lenders. The share of such issuance with credit ratings is increasing and credit enhancement requirements for the deals are declining. Marketplace lenders, also known as fintech lenders, started by matching individual investors with borrowers, and funding evolved in recent years to institutional investors and ABS and MBS. Some $2.6 billion of marketplace lending ABS ...

Delinquencies on subprime auto ABS are rising, according to data from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. But S&P Global Ratings said the situation may not be as bad as the Fed suggests.