In 2016 the student loan securitization market increased compared to 2015 and in 2017 the market has already been off to a good start; the panelists discuss the reasons for this trend of increased issuance including knowledge, confidence and a default rate of just 3 bps; in the case of the refinance product, supply has created the demand; panel also comments on the current regulatory landscape and the Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) Program which guarantees student loans; on the whole loan side, the panelists talk about the interest from investors, why they are deploying capital to the student loan market and the kind of returns they can expect; finally the panelists talk about risk retention and the importance of fintech in the origination of assets. Source
Kroll Bond Rating Agency has released a report on its asset-backed securitization rating methodology highlighting its methodology for marketplace lenders; discusses marketplace lending characteristics and platform analysis; also reports on key factors for transaction structuring. Source
Fitch Ratings has upgraded its ratings for the Citi Held for Asset Issuance 2016-PM1 (CHAI 2016-PM1) portfolio which includes loans originated from the Prosper platform; the ratings agency upgraded the Class A, B and C tranches; it attributes the upgrades to growth in hard credit enhancement available to the notes. Source
According to Bloomberg, defaults have triggered a breach in a 2015 SoFi bond deal; Bloomberg provides some details on the breach, reporting that the SoFi loans backing the bonds averaged more than $35,000, were unsecured and were from prime credit borrowers with annual salaries averaging around $130,000; the SoFi breach adds to worries about rising defaults overall which have been a factor for bond deals and troubled lenders in the marketplace lending industry. Source
The market has reported the first securitization of Lending Club prime loans, the Arcadia Receivables Credit Trust (ARCT 2017-1); the portfolio has been priced by Jefferies and is backed by $220 million of Lending Club prime loans as collateral; the loans come from Cirrix Capital's marketplace lending fund which is overseen by Arcadia; the securitization has two tranches which have both received a rating from Kroll Bond Rating Agency; tranche A includes the majority of the loans with $176.9 million in collateral and a BBB rating; tranche B includes $36.75 million in loans with a BB- rating; PeerIQ provides further analysis on the portfolio and how it compares to other similar securitization deals. Source
Lend Academy provides highlights from PeerIQ's Q1 2017 securitization market report in their article; total marketplace lending securitization issuance for the first quarter was $2.9 billion and all of the quarter's securitization deals were rated by a rating agency; SoFi leads the market in securitizations with nearly $9 billion representing 51% of the market's deal value. Source
This week's industry update from PeerIQ focuses on some good fundraising news for the market; OnDeck extended their credit facility with Deutsche Bank to 2019 and increased the borrowing capacity to $214 million; SoFi is looking to launch a risk retention fund soon and their most recent securitization deal worth $461 million deal was rated by S&P, Moody's and DBRS; Marlette closed on their third securitization deal, MFT-2017 1, which was their largest transaction; the deal was originally set for $257 million but was oversubscribed and priced at $333 million on Friday; PeerIQ listed a few other interesting items of note on the deal; the deal pricing of this transaction is tighter than past Marlette securitizations and they are using a step function for cumulative net loss triggers. Source
Ram Ahluwalia from PeerIQ was a featured keynote speaker at LendIt USA 2017; Ram reports marketplace lending securitizations reached over $12 billion in issuance from over 75 transactions; in the third quarter of 2016 rated tranches reached a peak of nearly 25 and in the fourth quarter of 2016 rated tranches were approximately 18. Source
Kabbage has announced the pricing of its first securitization of the year; the portfolio was valued at $525 million and includes small business loans; it is structured in four classes and has received ratings from Kroll Bond Rating Agency with the majority of the portfolio rated A; the deal is expected to close around March 20. Source