Welcome to the Australian Securitisation Forum
Welcome to the Australian Securitisation Forum (ASF) is a broadly based professional forum through which participants in the Australian securitisation markets can advocate their common interests on important legal, regulatory, accounting and market practice issues.
Fitch: The Return of the Australian Fixed Income Investor Fitch Ratings-Sydney/Singapore-02 November 2009: Fitch Ratings has released its third semi-annual investor sentiment survey of Australian fixed income investors and found an improved outlook, with an overwhelming view that markets across all asset classes are past the worst of their disruption. Reflecting this brighter perception, 79% of respondents are acquiring fixed income assets, 4% of which are doing so most aggressively. This is significantly higher than in Fitch's December 2008 survey, when only half were buying fixed income. "The survey confirms the trend we are seeing in corporate bond issuance in Australia, as evidenced by the recent bonds issued by Downer EDI Limited and Wesfarmers Limited," said Vicky Melbourne, Senior Director in Fitch's Corporate Ratings group.
The latest survey also found that some risks, namely housing market distress, inflation and hedge-fund failures, had ameliorated in the second half of 2008, while others have worsened. Given the relative strength of Australia's major banks, Fitch notes a surprising change in the perception of an increased risk of a major bank collapse. Expectations of recessionary conditions in the Asia Pacific region have eased considerably, with 88% of respondents expecting that the recession will last no more than a further 12 months. None of the respondents considered that recessionary conditions in the Asia Pacific region would continue for more than 24 months, but 17% and 21% did consider that the United States and Developed Europe respectively would continue to be in recession for longer than 24 months.
The latest survey also asked investors for their views on seven new topical questions which explored attitudes towards the Australian asset-backed bond market. It is noted that nearly half of those surveyed were buyers of primary Australian RMBS issuance during 2009, in a market where investors have been cautious of secondary market liquidity, asset-pricing and asset quality. Investors remain cautious towards Australian CMBS and structured credit, with property prices being the primary concern with respect to CMBS. There appears to be a lessened desire amongst investors to consider investing in structured credit. David Carroll, Director in Fitch Ratings Structured Finance team commented that "2009 has been an important year for CMBS with AUD3.4bn in transactions maturing. To date, all transactions have been re-paid in full at expected maturity, with capital markets investors participating in just one of those re-financings. This is a reflection of the reticence articulated by investors in the survey".
The credit markets research report entitled "Australian Senior Credit Investor Survey, August 2009" is available on the agency's public website, www.fitchratings.com.
Contact: Vicky Melbourne, Sydney, Tel: +61 2 8256 0325;
David Carroll, , Tel: +61 2 8256 0333.
Media Relations: Iselle Gonzalez, Sydney, Tel: +612 8256 0326, Email: iselle.gonzalez@fitchratings.com;
Shivani Sundralingam, Singapore, Tel: + 65 6796 7215, Email: shivani.sundralingam@fitchratings.com.
Fitch: Australian Structured Finance Performance Remains Robust in Q3/09
Fitch Ratings has today said that a total of 200 publicly-rated tranches backed by assets in Australia or New Zealand were affirmed during the third quarter of 2009, one was upgraded and 59 were downgraded. "Consistent with previous quarters, most Australian RMBS downgrades are not attributable to the deteriorating performance of the transactions, but rather to a change in Fitch's assessment of lenders' mortgage insurance providers," said Leanne Vallelonga, Associate Director in the agency's Asia Pacific Structured Finance team. "The Reserve Bank of Australia's increase in the official cash rate by 0.25% effective 7 October 2009 has signalled a change in monetary policy from historic lows. However, Australian interest rates remain at historically low levels and are not expected to significantly increase stress for borrowers at this point," added Ms. Vallelonga.
ASF welcomes ASIC Commissioner, Greg Medcraft, to its September Evening Series on ‘skin-in-the-game’
The Australian Securitisation Forum was delighted to be able to include Greg Medcraft on its panel of experts discussing the expectations of IOSCO and ASIC with respect to securitisation issuers retaining a long-term economic interest in their issuance. Commissioner Medcraft’s presentation can be viewed here.
ASF and ASIC working hard to deliver the best outcome for Australian securitisation markets
The Forum has been regularly meeting with ASIC and The Treasury in order to ensure that the right outcomes are achieved for Australia as a result of the G20/IOSCO proposals for securitisation markets.
Pre- and post-issuance disclosure together with IOSCO's recommendation for issuers to retain a long-term economic interest in their issues are endorsed by the ASF. The precise design is a matter of industry consultation being led by ASF.
In particular, because debate has raged globally over how much retention is necessary and what form it should take, the ASF is keen to ensure that mutual cross-border recognition is established so as to ensure Australian issuers - with their excellent track record - are not penalised when issuing into European and North American markets. Already, the US Congress and the European Parliament have forged ahead with differing visions for how the IOSCO principles should be accomplished. In other words, an equivalent regime is our preferred outcome; not an identical one.
ASF launches RMBS pre- and post-issuance disclosure package
The G20 and IOSCO and finally in turn ASIC as our local securities regulator released their final expectations with respect to pre- and post-issuance disclosure and on-going reporting of securitisation transactions.
The ASF has launched its Request for Comment to Members. ASF has begun conducting multi- and bi-lateral discussions with Members surrounding the draft disclosure package. Deadline for Comments is 6th November 2009.
National Consumer Credit Protection Regulations 2009: ASF Submission
Today, the ASF made its final submission in relation to the National Consumer Credit Protection Bill’s Regulations. Specifically, it highlights the uncertainty about the application of the Bill to SPVs, which as presently constructed will have serious adverse consequences not only for the securitisation industry, but also for the operation of Australian financial markets. This is because certainty is an essential element of all commercial transactions as it allows the parties to adequately allocate and price risk in these transactions.
Australian Securitisation Forum welcomes IOSCO publishing its final report from its Task Force on Unregulated Markets & Products (‘TFUMP’)
ASF supports the key findings and is already engaged with ASIC in the implementation of any recommendations in the Australian market.
In summary, the report recommends greater regulation to improve transparency and responds to G20 calls for greater oversight of previously unregulated markets, including securitisation markets. Specific recommendations as detailed in the IOSCO press release are:
Requiring originators and/or sponsors to retain a long-term economic exposure to the securitisation to ensure aligned interests
Improve disclosure by issuers to investors including initial and ongoing information about underlying asset pool performance
Review investor suitability requirements as well as the definition of sophisticated investor in the relevant market and strengthen these requirements
A copy of the IOSCO press release and final report can be found at http://www.iosco.org/news/pdf/IOSCONEWS165.pdf.
Once the ASF National Committee has signed off on the draft disclosure package and skin-in-the-game requirements, a Request for Comment (RfC) will be issued to ASF Members, culminating in a plenary session to be held next month. An invitation to this event will be issued this week.
Any member with queries or comments on the disclosure package or the skin-in-the-game requirements is welcome to put these in writing for consideration by the ASF Market Standards & Practices sub-committee.
The Australian Securitisation Forum (ASF) has developed the first specialist qualification for professionals working in the field of securitisation, the Securitisation Professionals Program. Participants successfully completing the Program, and its assessment, will be eligible for a Diploma of Financial Services FNS50107, a level 5 qualification under the Australian Qualifications Framework. There are nine specialist competencies that will be achieved. Further information.
|
|
