Consumer ABS

California Republic Bancorp in Irvine is pressing the accelerator on plans to expand its indirect auto lending business despite increasing industry concerns that the sector may be overheating.

Citigroup is marketing $771 million of commercial mortgage bonds backed by 37 loans secured by 75 properties, according to Kroll Bond Rating Agency.

The number of borrowers behind on private student loan payments rose slightly in the fourth quarter of 2015, but the overall trend is for continued improvement, according to Fitch Ratings.

Germany’s Bank11 fr Privatkunden und Handel GmbH (Bank11) is securitizing €550 million in auto-loan backed securities in a series of two classes of notes through its Revocar ABS platform.

The online consumer lender Avant is expanding into auto lending.

The Supreme Court on Monday asked the Obama administration to express its views in a case that has raised doubts about the business model used by many online lenders.

Social Finance's launch of a hedge fund to buy its loans should set off alarm bells among online lending cheerleaders in venture capital and stock markets; it also points the way to a long-term future for best-of-breed alternative lenders.

The increasingly troubled sector often draws comparisons to the subprime mortgage market of the 2000s. But the more apt analogue is the auto-lending sector of the 1990s.

No surprise, Moody’s Investors Service has not been asked to rate Citigroup’s latest securitization of unsecured consumer loans originated by Prosper Marketplace.