Banking

Private equity firms are hitting the U.S. leveraged loan market at the fastest pace in years to fund shareholder payouts with about $8.6 billion of dividend recapitalization deals launched this month.

Deals, trends and research in structured finance and asset-backed securities for the week of Sept. 11-17

Banks reported decent loan growth in the spring and early summer as businesses rushed to draw down credit lines and tap the Paycheck Protection Program. But demand has been muted since, and bankers can only guess when it will pick back up.

The prospective payout is so alluring to investors that they’ve placed three times as many orders as bonds and loans available for sale. That allowed Delta to boost the size of the deal from an original $6.5 billion, enough for the company to rule out the need for any federal aid.

The captive-finance lender for U.S. Mercedes-Benz deals closed on its second transaction of the year, and the first auto-lease ABS to price since July.

A new report on bank-held commercial real estate and C&I loans indicates troubled borrowers may be skipping payments on loans they won't be able to refinance or extend over the next year, leading to a potential wave of defaults over the next four to six quarters.

Legislation favorable to the industry would be unlikely to pass in a divided Congress, but the biggest benefit for banks and credit unions of Republicans' retaining control of the chamber would be defending against the disruption of a Democratic blue wave.

Liberty Lending, Upstart Network and Regional Management Corp. are looking to price bonds backed by pools of unsecured consumer loans, amid market worries about the sectors' potential challenges during the COVID-19 outbreak.

More consumer and commercial borrowers are paying their loans, increasing the likelihood that charge-offs will be manageable for banks despite the ongoing pandemic.

The financial industry has praised the measured approach taken in a pending regulation on permitted communications with consumers. But two recent complaints by the bureau against debt collectors reflect a potentially aggressive enforcement stance.