ASF 2012 Conference Report

Abstract

This article provides the author’s overview of the securitization market as of the time of ASF 2012, the American Securitization Forum's annual conference held in Las Vegas from January 22 to January 25. The author summarizes the welcoming address by Ralph Daloisio, managing director, Natixis, and Tom Deutsch, executive director, American Securitization Forum; featured and keynote addresses by Congressman Ed Royce, Congressman David Schweikert, and Comptroller of the Currency John Walsh; presentations and panel summaries on securitization and its role in the financial markets, methods of residential mortgage-backed security (RMBS) deal performance analysis, securitization pricing and valuation tools, consumer credit metrics and evaluation, an outlook for the securitization market, the implications of the European sovereign debt crisis on securitization, global securitization policy reforms, the future of U.S. mortgage finance, mortgage underwriting, and the impact of the proposed qualified mortgage (QM) definition, prospects for a restart of the RMBS market, a review of the collateralized loan obligation (CLO) sector, an overview of the consumer economy, a review of the global securitization market, the future of the capital markets for secured financing, and alternatives to credit ratings for risk-based capital, credit rating agency reforms; reviews of the emerging asset-backed securities (ABS) and commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS) sectors; and traders and researchers roundtables on consumer ABS and residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS).