Recently, Dechert Partner Sarah Milam partook in an auto ABS panel discussion at ABS East in Miami, Florida. Sarah and four distinguished panelists discussed the state of the ABS auto loan market, issuance, yields, collateral performance, ESG trends, and deal structures. Sarah sat down with Associate Griffin Hamilton to recap the conference.… Continue Reading
The US economy is about to pay the butcher’s bill for a massive disruption of worldwide financial markets resulting from the elimination of the London Interbank Offered Rate, or LIBOR. And, we are doing this on purpose. It seems the denizens of the heights of our international financial fabric felt they had to do this … Continue Reading
The Auditing Standards Board (the “ASB”) of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants recently released new standards as part of the “Attestation Clarity Project” with the goal of redrafting all its standards “in clarity format” (what format were they in before? And, while we’re at it, can we try to use English here? Clarity format?). This Project will require compliance by … Continue Reading
Your correspondent is fresh from the front-lines of the risk retention wars where great armies of lawyers, bankers and advisers are fixedly staring at each other, staring out of the redoubts of their respective defensive crouches in a complex, multidimensional chess game. All are fervently hoping against hope that something or someone does something to … Continue Reading
And now to return to our commentary a few weeks back about the stultifying impact of ill-thought through rules and regulations (at best) (Brexit has intervened). This is our Regulatory State which broadly attempted to pick winners and losers and modify market behavior, to get an engineered outcome by using the blunderbuss of proscriptive rules … Continue Reading
The slow start to 2016 did not dampen the enthusiasm at CREFC’s Annual Conference, held last week in New York City. The conference saw record attendance, with standing-room-only crowds at virtually every panel. As with the Industry Leaders Conference in January, the hot topics on people’s minds were risk retention (and the rest of the … Continue Reading
We thought it would be useful to give a quick, interim update on the slow-motion train wreck that is our industry’s response to the upcoming effectiveness of the Risk Retention Rule. For those of you who have been blessedly snoozing under a rock these past couple of years, the Risk Retention Rule becomes effective on … Continue Reading
Dechert’s securitization team is looking forward to the American Securitization Forum 2013 (“ASF 2013”) conference starting this Sunday, as it is expected to be once again the largest capital markets conference in the world. ASF 2013 is expecting over 4,500 participants who will all convene at the Aria Hotel and Convention Center in fabulous Las … Continue Reading
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (the “CFPB”) is currently charged with defining a “Qualified Mortgage” (a “QM”). The federal banking agencies, the SEC, the FHFA and the Department of HUD are jointly charged with defining a “Qualified Residential Mortgage” (a “QRM”), and the QRM definition cannot be any broader than the QM definition. A narrowly … Continue Reading
On August 17, the final rules from the SEC came out (“Rules”) regarding an ABS issuer’s duty to file Exchange Act reports — specifically, if and when an issuer can suspend reporting. The Rules specify that, effective September 22, the duty to file periodic reports under the Exchange Act will be suspended if all outstanding … Continue Reading
ASF 2011 kicked off yesterday, February 6, at the Orlando World Center Marriott. Dechert attorneys Malcolm Dorris, Ralph Mazzeo, Patrick Dolan, John Timperio, Cindy Williams, Andrew Pontano, Lorien Golaski and I are hosting a cocktail party for clients and friends here this evening. Congressman Scott Garrett (R-NJ), Chairman of the House Financial Services Subcommittee on … Continue Reading
On January 20th, the SEC finalized its first batch of many rules to come under Dodd-Frank, requiring issuers to perform reviews of the assets underlying their ABS securities and requiring them to disclose fulfilled and unfulfilled repurchase requests for alleged breaches of representations and warranties. These have effective dates beginning with 2012 issuance so, to a certain extent, we can kick the anxiety … Continue Reading
Another item to add to the growing list of possible unintended consequences of financial reform in connection with ABS: Section 210(a)(11) of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (the “Reform Act”)—Avoidable Transfers. Here’s the who, what, where, when, why and how ABS are affected. WHO? A “covered financial company” of which the … Continue Reading
The final day of ABS East in Miami closed on Tuesday late afternoon and we’re back home with no suntans. Those of us who didn’t overdo it on Monday evening (we won’t mention names) started Day 3 at a panel discussion titled “Lessons from the Financial Crisis: Required Steps for Rebuilding the Investor Base and … Continue Reading
Dechert attorneys kicked off ABS East by hosting a Day 1 cocktail party at the Fontainebleau that was well attended by our friends and clients. Day 2 of ABS East is underway. The Monday opening panel– Restoring Confidence and Rebuilding the Industry: The Role of Securitization– drew a pretty full house. The general consensus is … Continue Reading
We’re looking forward to ABS East October 3-5. More than 2,200 attendees are expected to gather at the Fontainebleau Miami Beach to discuss current topics in securitization. Hot topics this year include Lessons from the Financial Crisis, Restoring Confidence and Rebuilding the Industry, the Role of Securitization in Revitalizing the Economy, Assessing the Changing Face … Continue Reading
Dechert has assembled a team to cover the latest legislative and regulatory developments affecting the CMBS, RMBS, and ABS markets. Each Dechert Securitization Update provides timely information on these developments. For a discussion of several recent legislative and regulatory developments that will shape the future of the securitization markets, please see the latest Securitization Update … Continue Reading
I can’t stand it. We now have skin in the game provisions proposed by the SEC, the FDIC, the House of Representatives and the United States Senate. On CNN the other day, Congressman Barney Frank said that the most important part of the House Financial Reform bill was skin in the game in securitization. Okay, I know we’re probably … Continue Reading