Fifth Third Works on 1st Auto Loan ABS of 2014

Fifth Third Bank plans to issue $1 billion of auto loan backed securities.

The deal, Fifth Third Auto Trust 2014-1, is the issuer’s first for the year. Credit Suisse, Barclays, and JP Morgan are the lead underwriters on the transaction, according to term deal term sheet filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Deutsche Bank and RBC are named as co-managers on the deal.

Moody’s Investors Service and Standard & Poor’s assigned preliminary ratings of ‘Aaa’ / ‘AAA’ to the three tranches of class A notes marked to securitization investors.  

According to S&P, the pool of auto loans backing the deal have a weighted average FICO score of 762 (with a minimum score of 650) and a weighted average seasoning of more than 17 months.

This will be the issuer’s third deal since 2008. Fifth Third staged a post financial crisis return in March 2013 with a securitization backed by loans with a weighted average FICO of 800, with a 720 minimum score.  That deal also included loans with a weighted average seasoning of 5.5 months. For its second deal,issued in August2013, Fifth Third securitized a pool of loans with a weighted average FICO of 765. The loans had a weighted average seasoning of 18 months.