A look at the major activity in structured finance over the past seven days.

Pipeline
Auto-related ABS dominated the pipeline last week, with a couple of consumer ABS, some RMBS and a CLO also making an appearance. The auto entrants comprised: US$1.025bn AmeriCredit Automobile Receivables Trust 2016-4; US$1bn BMW Vehicle Lease Trust 2016-2; US$450m Exeter Automobile Receivables Trust 2016-3; C$406m MBARC 2016-A; US$361.4m NextGear Floorplan Master Owner Trust Series 2016-2; US$1.06bn Santander Drive Auto Receivables Trust 2016-3; A$756.2m-equivalent SMART ABS Series 2016-2US Trust; and US$1.25bn Toyota Auto Receivables 2016-D.

The €478m Matsuba 2016 and US$674m SMB Private Education Loan Trust 2016-C deals rounded out the newly-announced ABS. The US$345m NRZ 2016-PLS2 and £1.253bn Towd Point Mortgage Funding 2016-Auburn 10 transactions were the RMBS, while the CLO was US$415.1m Clarinda Park CLO.

Pricings
All asset classes were well represented in last week's pricings, although the CLO market saw the highest number of prints at 10. Four of the CLO prints were refinancings.

The US$404.15m Cathedral Lake IV, €411.1m Euro-Galaxy V, US$535.59m Magnetite XVIII, US$655.5m THL Wind River 2016-2, US$608m Voya CLO 2016-3 and US$406.05m Wellfleet CLO 2016-2 deals accounted for the newly issued CLOs. The CLO refinancings were: US$558.75m ALM VIII, US$302.5m Canyon Capital CLO 2012-1, US$349.5m Flatiron CLO 2012-1 and US$514.33m Wind River CLO 2012-1.

Meanwhile, among the ABS new issues were a handful of auto deals: US$438.51m DT Auto Owner Trust 2016-4; €513.6m E-CARAT Compartment 9; €437.8m ROOF Leasing Austria Compartment 2016; €720m Auto ABS Spanish Loans 2016; and €513.5m E-Carat Compartment 9. The US$552.78m Conn's Receivables Funding 2016-B and £138m Marketplace Originated Consumer Assets 2016-1 transactions rounded out the ABS pricings.

€562m Fastnet Securities 12, A$600m Firstmac Mortgage Funding Trust No.4 Series 3-2016, US$300m Green Tree Agency Advance Funding Trust I Series 2016-T1, US$300m New Residential Mortgage Loan Trust 2016-3, US$739m STACR 2016-DNA4 and £345m Finsbury Square 2016-2 made up last week's RMBS prints. Finally, US$540m CGCMT 2016-SMPL, US$885m MSBAM 2016-C30, US$757m WFCM 2016-NXS6 and £2.4bn Griffon Funding accounted for the CMBS pricings.

Editor's picks
Top marks: The final maturity dates on nine FFELP student loan ABS deals were extended earlier this month (SCI 14 September), as the industry continues to get to grips with the recent maturity crisis. Nelnet was able to extend all nine of the trusts that it sought to, largely through making use of DealVector's bondholder communication platform (SCI 22 June)...
Treasure hunt: The UK RMBS universe is set to shrink throughout 2016, exacerbated by limited supply and the redemption of the €4.4bn Aire Valley master trust. Against this backdrop, other sectors could benefit from excess investor cash...
US CLO status quo: The US CLO secondary market is currently little moved by events surrounding it. "Overall, these are interesting times in the primary CLO and loan markets, but that's not feeding through into the secondary market," says one trader. "Volumes are light at the moment - it's still very much the status quo..."
STACR liquidity boost: Fitch recently assigned ratings to seven previously unrated notes from seven Freddie Mac STACR RMBS issued between 2013 and 2014, after its similar action last month in respect of seasoned CAS transactions (SCI 31 August). The market is expected to respond favourably to the move, as the newly rated STACR bonds are now eligible to investors that are mandated to purchase rated securities...
Liquidity focus: Frank Dos Santos, head of North America business strategy for fixed income pricing at IHS Markit, answers SCI's questions...

Deal news
• Freddie Mac is rolling out a new front-end credit risk transfer offering dubbed Freddie Mac Deep MI CRT. Through a forward credit insurance policy provided by a panel of mortgage insurance company affiliates, this pilot structured transaction provides additional coverage beyond the primary mortgage insurance on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with 80%-95% LTVs, which is placed immediately upon their sale to Freddie Mac.
• Three Chinese issuers are in the market with NPL securitisations (see SCI pipeline). One of them - China Construction Bank - only made its debut in the asset class last week. China Construction Bank is joined by China Merchants Bank and the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC).
• Auto lease ABS have meaningful exposures to the recall of faulty Takata-manufactured airbags, notes Moody's. Auto loan ABS have only minimal exposure, but the lease sector is particularly affected due to the timing of when the leases backing outstanding transactions will mature, compared with when vehicle fixes occur and replacement parts are available.
• Officefirst Immobilien's plans for an IPO on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange before year-end are credit positive for the €468m Taurus 2015-2 DEU CMBS, says Moody's. Officefirst intends to use the proceeds primarily to repay existing debt, but also to convert into a REIT next year.
• Dock Street Capital Management has replaced Church Tavern Advisors as collateral manager for Sherwood Funding CDO II. Under the terms of the appointment, Dock Street agrees to assume all the responsibilities, duties and obligations of the collateral manager under an amended and restated portfolio management agreement as well as the applicable terms of the collateral administration agreement.
• Fannie Mae has successfully sold its fifth community impact pool of NPLs. The winning bidder on the pool was The Community Loan Fund of New Jersey, which is an affiliate of New Jersey Community Capital.
• The surge in securitisation activity in India last year has continued into 1Q16, boosted by renewed interest in MBS PTCs, according to a report from Crisil. The agency adds that the general securitisation growth is due to clarity on distribution tax and because of banks shifting to quarterly, rather than annual, assessment of priority sector lending targets.

Regulatory update
• RBS has reached a final settlement with the NCUA to resolve two outstanding civil lawsuits for US$1.1bn. The settlements relate to two RMBS cases that assert claims on behalf of US Central Federal Credit Union and Western Corporate Federal Credit Union.
• The US SEC has instituted public administrative and cease-and-desist proceedings against Nicholas Bonacci, due to misleading conduct while working as an RMBS trader at Morgan Stanley. He has agreed to pay a civil money penalty of US$100,000 to the general fund of the US Treasury.
• The US SEC has voted to adopt new rules to establish enhanced standards for the operation and governance of securities clearing agencies that are deemed systemically important or that are involved in complex transactions. It has also voted to apply the enhanced standards established by the new rules to other categories of securities clearing agencies, including all SEC-registered central counterparties.