Best of ABS Vegas 2015

The scoop on emerging asset classes and regulatory outlook from the ABS Vegas conference.

Former Congressman Barney Frank isn’t opposed to loosening of the way that the legislation he co-sponsored is applied to credit cards. But thinks that risk retention, rather than lending guidelines, is the best way to keep the mortgage industry in check.

“It’s clear the CFPB doesn’t like the way that dealers are compensated,” says Stuart Litwin, co-head of securitization at law firm Mayer Brown. “It does not want to let dealers negotiate rates with customers.”

Look for Sallie Mae to do several deals this year; its lending volume has risen too fast for regulators, and its likely to turn to securitization to trim its balance sheet, according to senior vice president Leo Subler.

T REX Group is working on what could be the first securitization of commercial solar assets in the U.S.; ABS Vegas participants voiced concerns about “renegotiation risk,” or the possibility that utilities locked in long-term uptake contracts will eventually push for lower rates. PICTURED: IKEA’s Miami-Dade store. (Image: Bloomberg News)

Ryan Stark, a managing director at Deutsche Bank, predicts that there will be $10 billion to $12 billion of rental property securitizations this year, and he expects that at least $1 billion of this will be multi-borrower deals.