Consumer ABS

Robust attendance is expected at the American Securitization Forum's (ASF) ASF 2012 to be held in Las Vegas' ARIA hotel and convention center starting this Sunday, Jan 22. The conference will last until Wednesday, Jan 25.

Student loan giant Sallie Mae, which has had a difficult few years, reported lower delinquencies and charge-offs, and declining operating expenses, helped fuel a 14% rise in fourth quarter earnings, to $511 million.

Moody's Investors Service has just released a Request for Comment (RFC) that describes its proposed approach to rating ABS backed by U.S. FFELP student loans.

Russian bank VTB 24 is looking to do a securitization of its car loan portfolio and might announce this transaction in 1Q12, according to Interfax Information Agency report.

GE Capital is in the market with GE Capital Credit Card Master Note Trust Series 2012-1 worth roughly $606 million.

VW Credit (VCI) is in the market with Volkswagen Auto Loan Enhanced Trust 2012-1 (VALET 2012-1) worth $1 billion.

Banks' risk managers are growing more concerned about the stability of the student loan market and fear that delinquencies on most types of consumer loans will increase in the coming months, according to a FICO survey.

Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP) has made an addition to its banking and capital markets (BCM) group. The firm has hired structured finance specialist Prashanth Satyadeva.

Financial institutions looking to wind down assets not related to core banking functions — especially those with large consumer credit exposure — will continue to face challenges given ongoing volatility in the credit and equities markets, according to a Fitch Ratings report.