Consumer ABS

The Treasury Department has tapped a former Wall Street managing director to be in charge of the research, markets and regulation arm of the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).

Discover Financial Services wants to get into mortgage origination, an executive for the credit card company said Thursday.

Nissan Motor Acceptance Corp. has filed an S-3 with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to issue under its Nissan Master Owner Trust Receivables program.

Several auto deals are marketing, boosting the sector's volume once again. Honda Motor Co. is in the market with its $1.025 billion auto ABS offering.

European structured finance products continue to absorb elevated credit risks very well from a performance standpoint, according to Unicredit analysts.

After a strong 2010 in Colombian structured finance — issuance grew more than 50% from 2009 — Fitch Ratings sees reasons for a repeat performance in 2011. Placements hit $7.8 billion last year, from a variety of companies in the corporate and financial sectors. The country’s Fannie Mae-esque Titularizadora Colombiana accounted for 28% of all issuance in 2010, turning out three peso-denominated RMBS and three inflation-indexed RMBS. The withdrawal of a tax credit for RMBS buyers should cut into volumes this year, but other asset classes are primed to pick up the slack, the agency said. Titularizadora itself may be involved in some of these as the agency has set up an offshoot to securitize non-housing ABS, such as auto loans, and expects to start issuing this year. Government-backed deals to fund infrastructure are also on the horizon, Fitch said.

In Brazil, talk of a more substantial RMBS market might be a step closer to reality, as banks will be able to use a portion of their securitized portfolios to meet a regulatory requirement that has been an impediment to RMBS issuance in the country, said Fitch Ratings in a report today. Under the rule, banks must keep 65% of savings deposits in real estate-related financings. With the change, “Fitch expects some large retail banks to debut new RMBS securitization platforms in 2011.”

North Texas Higher Education Authority is in the market with its Series 2011-1 FFELP-backed, 144A offering.

Mercedes-Benz is marketing a 144A $750 million auto lease securitization deal. The four-tranche fixed-rate, transaction called Mercedes-Benz Auto Lease Trust 2011-A (MBALT 2011-A) is backed by a pool of closedend retail automobile lease contracts and related new motor vehicles.

Ally Credit Canada issued its first public retail loan issuance in 2011, a $745 million auto ABS transaction.