The Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA), together with its affiliate the European Securitization Forum (ESF), said they welcomed the announcement of the U.K. government's 2009 ABS Guaranty Scheme for RMBS.
"SIFMA welcomes this initiative which is an important additional step in helping to restore investor confidence," said Karsten Moller, executive vice president, SIFMA-Europe and Asia. "The credit and liquidity guarantees are designed to help restart the U.K. RMBS market, which will in turn help improve the housing market." "
Moller added that the scheme utilizes securitization as an important solution to increase funding for potential homeowners and said he encouraged other European Union governments to work together with market participants to develop similar guarantees, as appropriate.
"The criteria for tapping into the guarantee scheme draw on the industry RMBS Issuer Principles for Transparency and Disclosure, Version 1 issued in February 2009," said Rick Watson, managing director of SIFMA and ESF. "Importantly, this plan will improve transparency and consistency for pre- and post-issuance disclosure."
