Should European non-bank direct lenders turn to collateralized loan obligation financing, transaction collateral will likely reflect the wide range of borrowers to which private credit lenders cater.

Basel 3.1 reforms will lead banks to apply high haircuts to unsustainably high property values and adjust mortgage risk weights to better differentiate between low-risk and high-risk loans.

Recent cyberattacks on three mortgage servicers did not hurt rated residential mortgage-backed security performance, but show how disrupted operations can affect structured finance transactions.

As solar panels become more common in Europe, the first solar loan asset-backed security becomes more likely. But while the asset class is new, many associated risks are familiar to ABS investors.

Interest rate hikes in the wake of the pandemic have driven an increase in commercial real estate delinquencies, but a variety of factors help mitigate many refinancing and other performance risks.

High interest rates will weigh on collateral performance in 2024 as structured finance markets adjust to structural shifts, regulatory reforms and geopolitical polarization.

Home price growth has stalled in most major economies globally. However, despite rising wages, housing affordability is weakening after record or near-record house price appreciation in recent years.

Various negative macroeconomic trends loom larger for middle market companies than for larger corporates, but the impact on middle market collateralized loan obligations is limited.

Asset-backed securities exposed to small and medium-sized enterprises remain among the transactions most vulnerable to continued slow economic growth around the globe. How has economic weakness eroded collateral performance thus far and what do we expect for the rest of 2023?

With Libor’s demise imminent, how prepared are US CLOs to move on from the long-time benchmark?

Moody’s analysts David Burger, Mark Wasden and Neal Epstein explain how differences in structure and asset risk give rise to divergent credit profiles among the three investment vehicles.

As climate change intensifies, how are utility companies using securitization to recover costs related to unforeseen developments like major storms and other natural disasters? And how is the market for these transactions evolving?

Jerome Cheng and Tengfu Li discuss how China’s economic rebound will support residential mortgage-backed securities and a handful of Asia-Pacific banking systems with close ties to the country.

Structured finance transactions are exposed to recent banking stresses in the US and Europe at both the collateral and counterparty levels. But will that impact be material? And what kinds of protections do transaction structures provide?

As borrowing costs continue to rise and consumers’ purchasing power wanes, borrowers’ ability to make debt payments is weakening. What makes auto ABS among the securitization sectors most vulnerable to this deterioration in consumers’ finances? And what does the sector’s ongoing transition to electric power mean for transactions we rate?

European small and medium-sized enterprises, and in turn securitizations backed by their debt, remain among the most vulnerable borrowers as the COVID-19 pandemic has given way to Ukraine War-driven economic uncertainty over the past year. With the war still raging and economies weakening, where are some of the biggest risks in the sector? And what kind of mitigants do ABS structures provide?

Rising rates and a deteriorating macroeconomic environment will make it more difficult for commercial real estate borrowers to refinance, but some will have more difficulty than others.

With the global economy on the verge of a downturn amid extraordinarily high levels of uncertainty, the performance of assets backing structured finance transactions will weaken in 2023. But erosion will not be distributed evenly across markets.

Interest rate hikes in many regions have slowed home price growth, but even where prices have started to decline, affordability remains strained. What are the implications for mortgage-backed securities, particularly for transactions backed by mortgages originated in the past year, when home prices were peaking?

Collateralized loan obligation portfolios and structures are always evolving, changing along with the credit environment. But since the pandemic set in, how have US and European deals continued to converge, and in what ways have they gone in their own directions? Meanwhile, how has the CLO manager landscape changed in each region?

The harmonization of covered bond laws across the EU will benefit bank issuers, transactions and investors alike. Meanwhile, with inflation heightening risks in many structured finance markets, covered bonds continue to benefit from the relatively strong credit quality of their bank issuers. How big of a deal is harmonization and what types of loans will it affect? Are there any holes in the new, unified framework?

The performance of auto-related asset-backed securities we rate in the US and Europe will normalize in the coming months as auto prices flatten out and macroeconomic factors such as inflation weigh on consumers. How do both used and new auto price movements affect ABS? Will supply disruptions persist into 2023? And how much will rising interest rates affect transactions backed by auto loans and leases?

Description: With loan-level delinquencies on the decline, the performance of CMBS in both the US and Europe is healthy. But some sectors are drawing extra attention in the wake of the pandemic. How much of the retail sector’s recent struggles are attributable to the pandemic and how much are a continuation of the ongoing trend away from bricks and mortar? Which property types are best positioned as inflation continues to rise?