Nine European and global trade associations today released Ten Industry Initiatives to Increase Transparency in the European Securitization Markets in response to the European Council of Finance Ministers (ECOFIN) call in its October 2007 roadmap to enhance transparency for investor, markets and regulators by mid-2008.
The nine associations working on the initiatives are: the Commercial Mortgage Securities Association, the European Association of Cooperative Banks, the European Association of Public Banks and Funding Agencies; the European Banking Federation; the European Savings Banks Group, the European Securitization Forum, the International Capital Market Association, the London Investment Banking Association and the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association.
The ten initiatives are broad in scope. The first two are in direct response to the ECOFIN roadmap. They are to draft industry good practice guidelines on securitization disclosures under pillar three of the capital requirements directive (CRD) and to create a new industry quarterly securitization data report thatprovides comprehensive, frequent and relevant statistical data on the European Union and U.S. securitization markets.
The industry initiatives also move beyond the transparency requests specifically listed in the ECOFIN roadmap, with eight additional issuer and investor focused initiatives designed to standardize issuer disclosure practices, broaden and facilitate investor access to transaction information, enhance usability and comparability of information, and strengthen investor good practice.
These additional initiatives (some of which are now also complete) include a finalized ABCP issuer disclosure code of conduct, the development of draft RMBS and CMBS issuer transparency and disclosure principles and measures to enable the further opening of access to transaction information, the development of industry data portals to create centralized access to prospectuses and investor reports, the release of a new ESF RMBS and CDO issuer/manager website directory, the establishment of globally coordinated task forces to improve standardization and granularity of RMBS and CMBS reporting templates, the development of standardized definitions to enhance comparability of terms in a global investor marketplace and the development of investor principles for credit assessment and valuations.
These initiatives are being coordinated on a global basis with other industry groups to the maximum extent possible and are also consistent with recommendations of the Financial Stability Forum and the International Organization of Securities Commissions on Transparency.
