Consumer ABS

Despite the ongoing euro area debt crisis, European auto ABS have remained a stable and active asset class with continued investor interest for standard auto assets (auto loan and auto lease receivables to private individuals and SMEs) over the last few years. Over the past 18 months, issuance in this asset class has come predominantly from Germany, France and the U.K. More recently, Norwegian and Swiss receivables have entered this asset class.

Dealmakers, issuers and investors in Latin American structured finance are often quick to point out that they've been spared the worst brutalities of the global financial crisis and the more recent sovereign debt anxiety in Europe, with the exception of the nonbank real estate sector in Mexico.

CarMax Business Services is planning to sell an auto ABS worth $750 million. The joint bookrunners of the Class A, B, C and D notes are Barclays Capital, JPMorgan Securities and Wells Fargo Securities.

Bank partnerships with colleges and universities may not pay off for students, the U.S. Public Interest Research Group (PIRG) warned in a report published Wednesday.

The shadow banking system is down but not out. That's the conclusion reached by the Deloitte Center for Financial Services in a new report that examines the scope and the relevance of a sector that has received its fair share of blame for causing the financial crisis.Deloitte says that assets controlled by the shadow banking system — including ABS and MBS —have declined by more than 50% in the last four years, to $9.53 trillion at Dec. 31. As a result of this sharp decline, the traditional banking sector that four years ago was smaller than the shadow banking system is now roughly $8 trillion larger, according to Deloitte.

How long can a good thing last? Writeoffs of credit card loans have already plunged below levels that issuers consider sustainable. Continued improvement in delinquencies points to a further dip in loss rates in the months ahead.

Fitch Ratings has assigned preliminary ratings to the student loan ABS issued by Academic Loan Funding Trust (ALFT) 2012-1.

Standard & Poor's in a note released today said that it expects easing underwriting standards to drive subprime auto collateral losses modestly higher versus current historical low levels.

DBRS has released its methodology for rating U.S. letter of credit (LOC)-supported structured finance deals.

World Omni Financial Corp. today filed a prospectus supplement with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to issue under its World Omni Automobile Lease Securitization Trust 2012-A.