SEC Regulation AB

Abstract

On May 13, 2004, the Securities and Exchange Commission published its Proposed Rule for Asset-Backed Securities (ABS), covering new disclosure requirements, in the Federal Register, and called for comments on that proposed rule from the various participants in the ABS market. One way or another, the publication of Regulation AB in its final form will change the ABS market. Although the final regulation is expected to be published in early 2005, issuers and investors are not even close to agreement on a number of important points, which makes the ultimate requirements of the rule difficult to predict. There are three items on the author's wish list: 1) disclosure regimes based upon collateral asset type; 2) credit score (i.e., FICO) disclosure for consumer asset types; and 3) static pool disclosure for revolving trusts.