Structured Finance and Capital Raising: Industry Report

Summary

Structured finance uses securitization and related instruments to transfer cash flows or credit risk from pools of assets, and it remains a significant funding channel in the United States and Europe. Latest available data show US asset-backed securities (ABS) issuance rising to USD 517.4 billion ⁵, while European placed issuance was expected to approach EUR 275 billion for the full year, a forecast rather than a final outcome ³. Growth is concentrated in synthetic significant risk transfer (SRT), private credit collateralized loan obligations (CLOs) and standardized (STS) European deals ¹²⁴. Principal risks include disclosure barriers in the US, issuer-pays credit rating rules in the EU, greenwashing scrutiny and collateral pressure in some consumer and commercial real estate pools ²³⁹. The sources do not provide verified margins, cost-to-income ratios, fees or default rates, so pricing and profitability conclusions are not possible. Outlook: rating agency sentiment is stable to positive ², but the medium-term path depends on pending US disclosure reform.

Key findings

1. 1

   US ABS issuance grew strongly in the latest period

   Issuance reached USD 517.4 billion, up 33.3% year over year, and US mortgage-backed securities issuance reached USD 1.9 trillion, up 18.8%. A separate SIFMA page reports USD 390.3 billion, down 1.3%, with no confirmed period, so the two figures cannot be reconciled.

   Confidence: High
2. 2

   Standardized placed deals are gaining share in Europe

   The STS share of total placed European securitization issuance rose to 58% in the second quarter of the latest period, from 25% in the first quarter. This is a placed-issuance measure, not total issuance.

   Confidence: High
3. 3

   Non-G-SIB issuers are now a large part of SRT activity

   Non-G-SIB issuers represented about half of global SRT issuance in the latest period, up from 30% earlier. EU synthetic SRT issuance is estimated at EUR 118 billion and exceeded true sale placed issuance.

   Confidence: High
4. 4

   European full-year issuance is a forecast, not an outturn

   European issuance rose 9% through the first ten months of the latest period. The full-year figure of about EUR 275 billion assumes the remaining months follow the forecast, so it should be treated as an estimate.

   Confidence: Medium
5. 5

   Disclosure and rating rules are shaping market access

   The SEC is reviewing whether asset-level RMBS disclosure is a barrier to public issuance, which is a review rather than a binding change. In the EU, CRA III introduced measures for structured finance, including requirements for issuers that pay for ratings.

   Confidence: Qualitative

1Industry definition and scope

This report covers structured finance, meaning securitization and related instruments that pool assets and distribute cash flows or credit risk to investors. The main segments discussed are asset-backed securities, residential and commercial mortgage-backed securities, collateralized loan obligations and synthetic significant risk transfer, which lets a bank transfer credit risk on a reference portfolio without moving the loans off balance sheet ¹². The writer's description of these terms is general and is not drawn from a single source.

The geographic scope is global, with the United States and Europe as the primary quantified markets. The reporting period is the latest available data in each source, and sources cover different periods, so comparisons are made only where the source states the period.

Definitions vary. Some sources count placed issuance only ⁴, some report full-year forecasts ³, and one reports a market size in USD that is an estimate from market research ¹⁰. Readers should check each figure's definition before comparing it with another.

Terminology is the writer's description. Quantified statements are limited to the figures and definitions stated in the cited sources.

2Market size, structure and value chain

US ABS issuance was USD 517.4 billion in the latest period, up 33.3%, and US mortgage-backed securities issuance was USD 1.9 trillion, up 18.8% ⁵. The US was also described as the largest securitization market, supported by deep capital markets and a broad investor base ³. A separate SIFMA page reports ABS issuance of USD 390.3 billion, down 1.3%, but the period is not specified, so this figure is not used for trend analysis ⁶.

In Europe, placed securitization issuance was EUR 39.1 billion in the second quarter of the latest period ⁴. Full-year European issuance is expected to be near EUR 275 billion, a forecast ³. Global SRT issuance has accumulated to a reported EUR 905 billion from the start of the tracked series to the end of the latest year ¹. A market research estimate puts the global structured finance market at USD 1.85 trillion, forecast to reach USD 2.66 trillion at a later horizon, with mortgage-backed securities holding about 48.12% share ¹⁰. This estimate is a vendor-style market research figure, and its method is not disclosed in the pack.

The value chain typically includes originators, arrangers, issuers, servicers, trustees, rating agencies and investors. The pack names rating agencies ² and investors ³ but gives no data on fee pools, revenue split, or how revenue is distributed along the chain.

• US ABS issuance 517.4USD billion Observed United States, Latest available data [5]
• US mortgage-backed securities issuance 1.9USD trillion Observed United States, Latest available data [5]

Table rows keep each source's definition. The pack does not allow a single reconciled European total.

3Customers, demand and adoption

Investors are the main end users of structured products. The pack describes a broad investor base in the US ³, but it does not give investor allocation, pricing, or purchasing criteria. Investor concerns cited in the pack focus on standards, data quality and greenwashing risk in ESG-labelled deals, which grew more selectively in the latest period ³.

Issuer demand has broadened. Non-G-SIB issuers accounted for about half of global SRT issuance, up from 30% earlier ¹. Private credit CLOs led growth in the securitization market, surpassing prior record issuance by the end of the third quarter of the latest period ². The STS share of placed European issuance rose to 58% in the second quarter, indicating growing use of standardized structures ⁴.

Barriers to public issuance include asset-level disclosure requirements, which the SEC is reviewing for private-label RMBS ⁹. The pack does not quantify the cost of compliance or the capital relief that banks obtain through SRT, so the writer cannot assess the size of these drivers.

• Share of placed European securitization issuance that is STS 58percent Observed Europe, Second quarter of the latest period [4]
• Non-G-SIB share of global SRT issuance 50percent (approximate) Observed Global, Latest available data [1]

No pricing, pricing sensitivity or customer survey data was found in the pack.

4Competitive landscape and key players

The pack does not give company-level market shares, underwriting rankings or concentration measures. Named bank underwriting shares came from a low-reliability market research summary and were excluded . Comparable company-level examples are therefore limited.

Provider types are clearer than individual firms. Bank issuers include both global systemically important banks (G-SIBs) and non-G-SIBs, and the non-G-SIB group is growing in SRT ¹. Private credit managers are driving CLO growth ². Industry bodies and data providers, including SIFMA ⁵⁶, AFME ⁴ and IACPM ¹, publish the main market statistics. Law and research firms such as Dechert ² and Chambers ³ publish market guides. Bank of America and JP Morgan appear in the pack only as contributors to an AFME data report ⁴, not as issuers with measured share, so they are not used as performance examples.

Business models differ mainly by structure. SRT transfers risk on a reference portfolio, while true sale issuance moves assets to an issuer ¹. Public registered issuance requires Regulation AB compliance, and structures outside the Regulation AB definition cannot use Form SF-1 or SF-3 without staff relief ⁹. Pricing, margin and fee comparisons are not available from the pack, so competitive pressure on returns cannot be measured.

Provider examples are used for market description only, not as evidence of competitive performance.

5Technology, operations and workforce

Operating requirements are shaped by disclosure rules. US Regulation AB requires disclosure of the source of funds for payments on each class of asset-backed securities ⁷. Final rules require asset-level information for each pool asset in prospectuses and ongoing reports for real estate, auto and debt-backed ABS ⁸. Meeting these rules implies loan-level data capabilities, but the pack does not measure the operating cost of doing so; this is the writer's interpretation.

A market research claim suggests digital securitization platforms are gaining share, but the pack notes this was not verified against primary data . Automation effects, productivity measures and cost-to-income ratios are not available.

Workforce evidence is absent. The pack contains no data on skills, talent supply, staffing or headcount. Data availability is better documented: SIFMA maintains daily, monthly, quarterly and annual ABS series ⁶, which supports analysis but does not describe the workforce.

Technology and workforce statements are limited to regulatory and data-availability facts. Market claims are flagged as unverified.

6Regulation, standards, risk and sustainability

Jurisdiction matters. In the United States, Regulation AB sets disclosure items and requirements for ABS filings under the Securities Act, and these are binding requirements ⁷. The SEC final rule requires asset-level data and financial disclosure for significant obligors and credit enhancement providers ⁸. The SEC's review of RMBS asset-level requirements is a proposal-stage request for input, not a binding change ⁹.

In the EU, CRA III introduced new measures for structured finance instruments, including requirements for issuers that pay for a credit rating ². This is a binding framework as described in the source. The pack does not retrieve the text of EU or UK securitization rules, so Basel III and the STS framework details are not verified here.

Sustainability and conduct risks are relevant. ESG-labelled securitizations grew more selectively as investors focused on standards, data quality and greenwashing risk ³. This is voluntary, market-driven scrutiny rather than a binding rule in the sources reviewed. Fraud, collateral performance and market volatility are not quantified in the pack, and a source note reports collateral deterioration in some consumer loan and commercial mortgage pools without figures.

This section describes regulatory context only. It is not legal advice, and readers should confirm the current rule text for their jurisdiction.

Binding rules, proposals and voluntary guidance are separated as described in each source.

7Challenges, opportunities and case examples

The main challenges are disclosure burden, data inconsistency and collateral quality. The SEC review of RMBS disclosure suggests asset-level requirements may limit public issuance ⁹. Figures for the same market conflict across sources, such as US ABS data in two SIFMA publications ⁵⁶, which complicates benchmarking. ESG scrutiny adds reputational and documentation demands ³.

Opportunities include broader issuer participation, with non-G-SIB banks gaining share in SRT ¹, continued growth of private credit CLOs ², and rising STS use in Europe ⁴. Rating agency sentiment for the coming year is described as stable to positive ².

Case example one: the SEC review of RMBS disclosure shows regulators testing whether existing rules restrict public deals ⁹. Case example two: SIFMA publishes downloadable ABS series at several frequencies ⁶, which supports market monitoring. Case example three: the AFME European data report presents placed issuance and STS shares by quarter, with contributions from SIFMA and banks ⁴. These examples describe market infrastructure and policy activity, not the performance of named firms.

Case examples come from the pack and are limited to market infrastructure and policy activity because company-level performance data was not retrieved.

8Outlook and strategic implications

Near term, the forecast European full-year figure of about EUR 275 billion ³ and the continued growth of EU synthetic SRT relative to true sale ¹ point to continued activity. US issuance strength ⁵ is tempered by the conflicting SIFMA figure ⁶, so the US trend should be treated as uncertain until periods are confirmed.

Medium term, the main variable is whether US disclosure reform reduces the barrier to public private-label RMBS issuance ⁹. This is a scenario, not a forecast, because the review is at an early stage. Continued STS adoption in Europe ⁴ and broader non-G-SIB participation ¹ would support diversification of issuers.

Practical implications: issuers should track disclosure and rating requirements in each jurisdiction ²⁷⁹; investors should verify ESG labels and data quality before relying on them ³; and analysts should reconcile definitions before comparing market figures. Pricing, margin and default-rate analysis should wait for primary data, which the pack does not provide. This is general market analysis, not investment advice.

Scenarios are the writer's interpretation of the cited evidence and are not forecasts from the sources.

9Conclusion

Structured finance is growing in the United States and Europe, led by strong US ABS issuance ⁵, rising European standardization ⁴ and broader SRT participation ¹. The most defensible takeaways are the direction of issuance and the disclosure and rating rules that shape access. Profitability, pricing and credit performance cannot be assessed from the current pack.

How this was built

Sources

1. 1

   Global SRT Market Overview: Record Issuance, Broadening Participation, Diversifying Assets

   IACPM (International Association of Credit Portfolio Managers) Global SRT Bank Survey Industry association

   members.iacpm.org
2. 2

   Structured Finance and Securitisation (Panoramic guide)

   Dechert LLP, Lexology Panoramic Market research

   dechert.com
3. 3

   Securitisation (Chambers practice guide)

   Chambers and Partners Market research

   practiceguides.chambers.com
4. 4

   European Securitisation Data Report, second quarter

   AFME (with SIFMA, Bank of America, JP Morgan) Industry association

   afme.eu
5. 5

   Capital Markets Fact Book

   SIFMA Research Industry association

   sifma.org
6. 6

   US Asset Backed Securities Statistics

   SIFMA Research Industry association

   sifma.org
7. 7

   Regulation AB (17 CFR 229.1100) asset-backed securities rules

   US Securities and Exchange Commission, via eCFR Regulator

   ecfr.gov
8. 8

   Asset-Backed Securities Disclosure and Registration (final rule)

   US Securities and Exchange Commission, via Federal Register Regulator

   federalregister.gov
9. 9

   SEC seeks input on modernizing RMBS disclosure requirements

   Mayer Brown News report

   mayerbrown.com
10. 10

    Structured Finance Market Size, Share and Growth Trends

    Mordor Intelligence Market research

    mordorintelligence.com