Contents

ABS

BNPL boom

Middle East consumer ABS set for expansion

The Middle East’s securitisation landscape is poised for expansion as the second local buy now, pay later (BNPL) transaction is unveiled. Coupled with a wave of new legislation and ever-growing interest from foreign investors, the future of Islamic structured finance appears bright.

UAE-based BNPL service provider, Tabby, hit the market last month with a US$700m ABS - echoing the success of Saudi Arabia’s largest BNPL entity, Tamara, earlier in the year (SCI 20 May 2023). With the BNPL sector projected to experience 12.3% growth in the region between 2023 and 2028, the securitisation market continues to mirror the expansion of the product and evolution of the fintech landscape.

Tabby co-founder and ceo, Hosam Arab, states: “Securitisation is a major milestone, not only for Tabby, but also the first of its kind for the region. It mirrors the rapid growth and evolution of the fintech landscape in our markets.” 

Just days prior to Tabby’s inaugural issuance, the Central Bank of the UAE (CBUAE) introduced regulations targeting the region’s growing BNPL industry. The UAE’s new rules outline lending standards for BNPL services, allowing BNPL fintech firms to provide short-term credit services, either once licensed by the central bank or as an unlicenced entity of a licenced bank or financial institution. Similar legislation had also been introduced a few weeks earlier by the Saudi Central Bank (SAMA).

Such central bank moves towards regulating the BNPL industry does not only acknowledge the rising demand for the consumer product, but could also help position the UAE as a consumer-friendly market and thus foster further growth for this product.

At the same time, backing from international, non-Islamic investors underscores the breadth of global interest in Middle Eastern BNPL securitisations – despite only two being marketed thus far (SCI 13 November 2023). JPMorgan operated as a key collaborator with both Tamara and Tabby, helping Tabby obtain US$700m in receivables for its securitisation – the largest asset-backed facility secured by any fintech within the Middle East and North Africa.

However, the entrance of major BNPL entities, such as Tabby, into the securitisation market may not come as too much of a surprise as the market continues to undergo significant growth. The Gulf region already hosts three major BNPL competitors – Tamara, Tabby and Cashew – positioning itself as a significant area for opportunity with rising e-commerce trends and a historical underutilisation of credit cards.

Claudia Lewis

Structured Finance

SCI Start the Week - 8 January 2024

A review of SCI's latest content

Last week's news and analysis
Accretive process
Wasif Kazi, structurer at UniCredit, forecasts continued growth in CEE SRT
CIFC launches multi-strategy credit fund
UCITS fund focused on fixed rate opportunities launched
Job swaps weekly: Greenberg Traurig appoints three new partners from Seward & Kissel
People moves and key promotions in securitisation
Obra acquires Unified and taps RiverRock's Annino
Asset manager buys insurer and hires longevity head
Performance shift?
Indian cross-border ABS debuts
Riverstone co-founders launch Breakwall Capital
New energy focused asset manager announced
Winds of change
Bumper 2023 GSE CRT returns set to diminish
Plus
Deal-focused updates from our ABS Markets and CLO Markets services

Regulars

Recent premium research to download
Hotel CMBS – November 2023
The lodging sector is one of the few bright spots in the US CMBS landscape. This Premium Content article uncovers the reasons why.

Project finance CRT – November 2023
Synthetic securitisation is expected to play a key role in assisting Europe’s transition towards a more sustainable economy. This Premium Content article explores the significance of project finance SRT transactions within this context.

Data centre securitisation – November 2023
Insatiable demand for connectivity is fuelling a rise in data centre securitisation issuance. This Premium Content article tracks the market’s development.

(Re)insurer participation in CRTs – October 2023
(Re)insurer interest in CRTs is rising, but execution of unfunded transactions remains limited. This Premium Content article outlines the hurdles that still need to be overcome.

Utility ABS – October 2023
An uptick in utility ABS is expected as US utilities seek financial solutions for retiring the country’s aging fossil fuel fleet. This SCI Premium Content article explores how the proceeds from these transactions can be used to facilitate an equitable energy transition.

All of SCI’s premium content articles can be found here.

SCI Global Risk Transfer Report 2023: New frontiers in CRT
Sponsored by Arch MI, Man GPM, Mayer Brown and The Texel Group, the free report is available to download here.

SCI In Conversation podcast
In the latest episode, Matthew Bisanz, a partner in Mayer Brown’s bank regulatory practice, outlines how the Federal Reserve’s update on 28 September of the FAQs on Regulation Q is likely to impact the US capital relief trades market. The long-awaited guidance clarifies the definition of a synthetic securitisation and, crucially, states that a reservation of authority can be requested for direct CLNs. Bisanz, for one, anticipates an increased willingness – especially among larger CCAR banks – to enter into CRTs as a result.
The episode can be accessed here, as well as wherever you usually get your podcasts, including Apple Podcasts and Spotify (just search for ‘SCI In Conversation’).

SCI Markets
SCI Markets provides deal-focused information on the global CLO and Australian/European/UK ABS/MBS primary and secondary markets. It offers intra-day updates and searchable deal databases alongside CLO BWIC pricing and commentary. Please email Tauseef Asri at SCI for more information or to set up a free trial here.

SRTx benchmark
SCI has launched SRTx (Significant Risk Transfer Index), a new benchmark that measures the estimated prevailing new-issue price spread for generic private market risk transfer transactions. Calculated and rebalanced on a monthly basis by Mark Fontanilla & Co, the index provides market participants with a benchmark reference point for pricing in the private risk transfer market by aggregating issuer and investor views on pricing. For more information on SRTx or to register your interest as a contributor, click here.

Upcoming SCI events
8th Annual Risk Transfer & Synthetics Seminar
1 February 2024, New York

SCI’s 3rd Annual ESG Securitisations Seminar
16th April 2024, London

Emerging Europe SRT Seminar
16 May 2024, Warsaw

2nd Annual Esoteric ABS Seminar
June, New York

CRT Training for New Market Entrants
14-15 October, London

Women In Risk Sharing
15th October, London

10th Annual Capital Relief Trades Seminar
16 & 17 October 2024, London

2nd Annual European CRE Finance Seminar
November 2024, London

Capital Relief Trades

Fed smiles on SRT

Huntingdon and Santander USA get the green light

The Federal Reserve last month approved CLNs for regulatory capital relief purposes for both Huntingdon Bancshares and Santander USA.

In a letter dated December 9, the deputy associate secretary of the board said that Huntingon may calculate its risk-weighted asset amount under the capital rule “as if” a planned auto-linked CLN, designated Series 2024-01, were a synthetic transaction.

In addition, the action also permits Huntingdon to treat other CLN deals as synthetic transactions if they are structured and documented in a “substantially identical manner” to the above CLN as long as the aggregate reference portfolio principal is the lower of 100% of Huntingdon’s entire capital or US$20bn.

Huntingdon Bancshares is the holding company of US$187bn Huntington National Bank, based in Ohio, which has 1047 offices throughout the Midwest. It is the 26^th largest bank in the US and is a significant retail lender with a sizeable auto loan book.

The letter was addressed to Matt Bisanz, a partner at Mayer Brown, who is acting on behalf of the bank

Separately, on December 12, the Fed board also approved similar but retrospective action with regard to two auto-linked CLNs issued by Santander USA in 2021 (Series 2021-1) and 2022 (Series 2022-B).

The bank may treat both deals as synthetic securitizations for the “purposes of calculating Santander Holdings USA’s risk weighted assets under the capital rule.”

In addition, and echoing the treatment afforded Huntingon, the bank may also treat “other CLN transactions as synthetic securitizations for the purposes of calculating risk-weighted assets” as long as they are structured and documented in a similar manner.

These decisions represent another milestone in the development of the SRT market in the USA. They show that the Fed is not only prepared to treat individual deals as suitable for regulatory capital relief purposes but that it is also prepared to extend that treatment for similarly structured deals.

Moreover, it will grant that treatment retroactively if the case meets the appropriate criteria.

Simon Boughey

Capital Relief Trades

Project finance SRT finalised

BBVA closes bilateral trade

BBVA has closed a synthetic securitisation with PGGM referencing a project finance portfolio valued at €750m. The bilateral transaction allows BBVA to release up to 88% of the portfolio's capital. 

Of the projects in the securitised portfolio, 60% are classified as sustainable, with renewable energy, digital infrastructure and transportation infrastructure the leading sectors. In terms of geography, the portfolio is of a global nature, with Spain, Europe, the US and Asia Pacific listed as the main jurisdictions for the projects.

As part of the trade, BBVA transfers a significant portion of the credit risk of this loan portfolio to the investor, while remaining aligned with PGGM by retaining risk on a percentage of the portfolio. The transaction also satisfies the quality criteria established by the EU for STS transactions.

Vincent Nadeau

Capital Relief Trades

Risk transfer round-up - 12 January

The week's SRT developments and deal news

Deal news
Europejski Fundusz Leasingowy (EFL), owned by Crédit Agricole, has completed a synthetic securitisation with the EIB Group. The transaction is backed by a PLN2bn portfolio of Polish leasing receivables.

The EIF guarantee on the PLN250m mezzanine tranche covers a reference portfolio of PLN2bn, while a counter-guarantee from the EIB mirrors the EIF’s obligation, whereby the EIB covers the credit risk related to the mezzanine tranches. The capital freed up by the EIF guarantee will be reused to provide financing to micro, small and medium-sized enterprises in Poland, with a particular focus on improving access to finance for borrowers in cohesion policy regions and women-led initiatives.

Under the agreement, EFL committed to granting leases worth PLN2.5bn to micro, small and medium-sized enterprises within the next three years. Crédit Agricole and Santander acted as arrangers on the transaction.

Meanwhile, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) has completed a risk-transfer transaction using credit-insurance protection with private insurance companies to help diversify its portfolio and free up capital for additional lending to Latin American and Caribbean countries. Previously, the IDB had undertaken credit-substitution transactions and guarantees with other multilateral development banks (MDBs) and governments. Consequently, this represents the bank's first such transaction with the private sector. 

The credit insurance protects US$300m of exposure on the IDB balance sheet, releasing capital that can be leveraged by three to four times to increase development financing and continue improving lives in borrowing member countries. The transaction is distributed across 14 insurance companies in the US, Asia and Europe.

Market update
As the SRT market slowly but surely gears itself up for 2024, market participants describe - as anticipated - a measured start to the year.

Reflecting on the first two weeks of the year so far, one SRT investor notes: “Most people in the industry were not around last week, so I expect that by the end of January, we will have a much better sense of what kind of deals are coming through. In a couple of weeks’ time, we’ll start to get a better sense of how Q1 and Q2 will shape up.”

Commenting on technicals and the wider macroeconomic environment, the investor describes the market as being “untouched,” before adding: “I think the market is pretty strong. Spreads are tight for now. Over the last month and a half, everything tightened a lot and although it’s only the beginning of the year, we haven't seen any widening so far.”

He continues: “The general consensus is that the macro is pretty benign, at least in the US. And here in the UK, even with planned deterioration, it shouldn't be anything too harmful for this market.”

Regarding the rumour mill, investors suggest that at the end of last year, Santander closed its second Arataca trade referencing a portfolio of Spanish RMBS loans. Also rumoured to have closed is a Unicredit transaction, referencing large corporate loans, with AXA IM and Blackstone acting as investors. Rabobank is further cited as being in the market on a bilateral transaction with PGGM (possibly the Pommes programme).

Looking ahead, the investor anticipates that real estate portfolios will be more prominent in 2024. He concludes: “Last year we didn’t see much of this asset class. I expect it to be a significant theme, as there is a lot of real estate in Europe. People are talking about doing something in the space; however, we haven’t really seen anything so far.”

Rating news
Fitch has affirmed or upgraded a number of outstanding notes issued by Chase Auto Credit Linked Notes (CACLN) Series 2020-2, 2021-1 and 2021-2. The rating actions reflect available credit enhance and loss performance to date, with cumulative net losses (CNLs) tracking inside the agency’s initial rating case CNL proxies, while hard CE levels have grown for all classes in each transaction since close.

As of the December 2023 servicer report, 60-plus day delinquencies total 0.25% and CNLs are 0.13% for CACLN Series 2020-2 (versus Fitch's revised rating case CNL proxy of 0.25%). For CACLN Series 2021-1, 60-plus day delinquencies total 0.18% and CNLs are 0.12% (versus 0.30%). Finally, for CACLN Series 2021-2, 60-plus day delinquencies total 0.25% and CNLs are 0.14% (versus 0.35%).

SRT new issue pipeline

SCI SRTx indexes

For more information on the Significant Risk Transfer Index (SRTx), click here.

Capital Relief Trades

Big buyers

Five names said to take large bites of JPM SRT whopper

Five investors are said to absorbed large slugs of the estimated US$20bn synthetic securitisation of multinational corporate revolvers from JP Morgan currently in the market, according to sources.

The buyers are said to be Blackstone, DE Shaw, Ares, PGGM and LuminArx.

Blackstone, DE Shaw and Ares have declined to comment, while PGGM and LuminArx have been unavailable for comment.

The spread offered on the transaction is believed to be around 8.50% - 8.75%, while tranche thickness is said to be 0% - 12.5%.

This deal is further evidence of the coming of age of the US SRT market. The size of this transaction, from admittedly the biggest bank in the USA, indicates the sort of volume that could be seen this year.

US banks face increasing and unrelenting capital constraints, while at the same time the Federal Reserve is now prepared to grant capital relief to CLNs as well as SPV-based deals.

US Bank, the seventh largest bank in the country with approximately US$680bn in assets, has also been in the market lately for a synthetic securitisation of investment grade loans.

Simon Boughey

SRTx

Latest SRTx fixings released

Index values indicate gradual tightening in spreads and improved outlooks for liquidity, as well as a tempering in negative credit risk sentiment

The latest fixings for the SRTx (Significant Risk Transfer Index) have been released. Spread indexes have moved higher compared with December’s fixings (SCI 4 December), particularly in the large corporate space, owing to typical year-end volatility.

After two months of tightening in SRTx Spread Indexes, this month’s survey responses show a widening of both the large corporate segment (+12.3% in Europe and +12% in the US) and the SME space (+1.6% in Europe and +4.8% in the US).

The SRTx Spread Indexes now stand at 1,173, 969, 1,170 and 1,278 for the SRTx CORP EU, SRTx CORP US, SRTx SME EU and SRTx SME US categories respectively.

The SRTx Credit Risk Indexes indicate that the credit risk outlook remains elevated but mixed, with European values moderately lower month-on-month (-5.7% and -17.5% for large corporates and SMEs respectively) but US values rising (+24.4% for large corporates and +14.3% for SMEs). Marking a slight diversion from Europe, where values have tempered in the mid-50 zone, US values are trending towards – but below – 70.

The SRTx Credit Risk Indexes now stand at 55 for SRTx CORP RISK EU, 67 for SRTx CORP RISK US, 55 for SRTx SME RISK EU and 67 for SRTx SME RISK US.

On the liquidity front, values are mixed and continue to point towards expectations of modestly better conditions, with SRTx Liquidity Index values down across European corporates (-15.3%), European SMEs (-20%) and US SME’s (-4.8%). The Index value for US corporates increased slightly (+3.7%) but remains in the low 30s.

The SRTx Liquidity Indexes stand at 40, 33, 40 and 33 across SRTx CORP LIQ EU, SRTx CORP LIQ US, SRTx SME LIQ EU and SRTx SME LIQ US respectively.

Finally, this month’s survey responses saw SRTx Volatility Indexes inching higher and remaining biased towards slightly elevated volatility, with values in the mid- to high-50s across the board. Most segments saw only modest changes, with the most notable shift being a 16.5% increase in the index value for European large corporates.

The SRTx Volatility Index values now stand at 55, 58, 55 and 58 for the SRTx CORP VOL EU, SRTx CORP VOL US, SRTx SME VOL EU and SRTx SME VOL US indexes respectively, as of the 5 January valuation date.

SRTx coverage includes large corporate and SME reference pools across the EU and US economic regions. The index suite comprises a quantitative spread index - which is based on survey estimates for a representative transaction (the SRTx Benchmark Deal) that has specified terms for structure and portfolio composition - and three qualitative indexes, which measure market sentiment on pricing volatility, transaction liquidity and credit risk.

Specifically, the SRTx Volatility Indexes gauge market sentiment for the magnitude of fixed-spread pricing volatility over the near term. The index scale is 0-100, with levels above 50 indicating a higher proportion of respondents estimating volatility moving higher.

The SRTx Liquidity Indexes gauge market sentiment for SRT execution conditions in terms of successfully completing a deal in the near term. Again, the index scale is 0-100, with levels above 50 indicating a higher proportion of respondents estimating that liquidity is worsening.

Finally, the SRTx Credit Risk Indexes gauge market sentiment on the direction of fundamental SRT reference pool credit risk over the near term. The index scale is 0-100, with levels above 50 indicating a higher proportion of respondents estimating that credit risk is worsening.

The objective of the index suite is to depict changes in market sentiment, the magnitude of such change and the dispersion of market opinion around volatility, liquidity and credit risk.

The indexes are surveyed on a monthly basis and recalculated on the last trading day of the month. SCI is the index licensor and the calculation agent is Mark Fontanilla & Co.

For further information on SRTx or to register your interest as a contributor to the index, click here.

Kenny Wastell

Structured Finance

Reaching for the Starz

Future of European CRE CLO market contemplated

Despite no new issuance since Starz Realty Capital’s debut in 2021 (SCI 9 December 2021), the underlying message from those closest to the European CRE CLO market is simple: it’s better than the headlines are making it seem. With just one public deal closed in Europe thus far, CRE CLOs still stand up as a strong funding tool for sponsors holding small-medium loans, according to panellists at SCI’s inaugural European CRE Finance Seminar held at the close of last year.

In fact, CRE CLOs have many advantages, from greater portfolio management flexibility to the opportunity for sponsors and banks to work closely – with banks being more involved than in most other corners of the capital markets. Additionally, CRE CLOs are considered particularly well-suited to funding transitional assets.

However, for sponsors, borrower disclosure is often a fine balancing act. Hence, there remains a need to educate some borrowers on the product.

For Europe, perhaps the primary challenge facing CRE CLO issuance is the lack of currency and regulatory uniformity, which has only been worsened by Brexit. Some hesitancy may also originate from concerns relating to asset quality, given that many CRE loans seen in 2022 were originated during the pandemic, and a strong track record will be necessary.

Despite recent challenges across the CRE market, the Starz Mortgage Securities 2021-1 deal has performed robustly through the credit cycle. So far, of the nine loans originally securitised in the transaction, just three remain outstanding – all of which are due to mature this year. Panellists reported that no losses or any significant issues are on the cards at the moment - with the worst-case scenario appearing to only be a short-term extension.

But recent European CMBS prints have not been encouraging from a pricing perspective for any potential CRE CLO issuers across the region – although whether these numbers represent a blip should become clearer as the year progresses.

Perhaps against all odds, hope remains for the CRE CLO market, as loan originators find themselves inundated with interest for short-term loans amid the seemingly endless interest rate scenario. However, as the panellists noted, this itself does not rule out the prospect for CRE CLOs to be backed by large loans in the future.

Aeon Investments is among those believed to remain close to the pipeline, given the closing of its first CRE CLO warehouse in October 2022 (SCI 21 October 2022).

Claudia Lewis

Capital Relief Trades

First-mover advantage

SCI recently asked Georgi Stoev, head of Northern Europe & CEE, Securitisation at the EIF, for his views on the CEE SRT market and the role of the EIF in the region

The EIF invested over €3bn in the securitisation market last year, of which €2.8bn was executed in a synthetic format. In terms of jurisdictions, the fund continues to strengthen its engagement across Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), with Romania (accounting for over €700m of investments), Bulgaria (close to €500m) and Poland (€450m) topping the investment list.

Q: Is Poland now a mature SRT market? 
A: The way I would answer that question is as follows: I would consider a market to be in a mature form if transactions take place, even without the participation of multilateral development institutions such as ourselves. For instance, last year we only invested in one Polish transaction and we know of many others that were executed with some of our competitors or partners from the hedge fund and pension fund industries. Given that these transactions took place with considerable amounts of investments, I would tend to consider Poland as a fairly mature market in terms of SRT transactions.

However, I would further add that I believe Bulgaria and Romania are quickly but solidly becoming mature markets as well. We started our investments in Bulgaria in 2022 and in the last year we completed two transactions for close to €500m of investments. Similarly, last year Romania topped the list of our investments with over €700m of investments across two transactions.

Additionally, we definitely see interest from the wider region. For example, two years ago, we invested in a Slovakian transaction; 3.5 years ago we participated in a Czech transaction and last year we invested in a large pan-Baltic transaction. I would therefore say that we are fairly active across the region.

Q: How do you view your role and presence as an international financial institution in the region? Would you say you are still the most cost-effective option?
A: I wouldn't say that our main competitive advantage is the cost. As I've said numerous times at conferences and symposiums, we are not the investor that will go the deepest in the capital structure.

Our risk appetite is more in the double-B area, rarely in the single-B area. Our partners, as I called the pension fund industry or the hedge fund industry, can afford to go very deep in the capital structure - even in the first loss piece - thereby taking a lot more risk than what we are able or willing to contemplate.

Clearly, the pricing is a function of the risk that is being underwritten. From that perspective, nominally, our pricing would be lower than the one of the hedge funds, pension funds or insurance companies. However, risk-weighted-wise, I don't think our pricing is very dissimilar to the one of the hedge funds or the pension funds.

10 years ago, the share of CEE within our investment book was in the single-digits. Last year, 56% of our investment in terms of volume and amount went to the CEE region.

Therefore and obviously there is some strategic consideration that needs to be taken into account when looking at our appetite for CEE. And that is clear because as a multilateral development institution – apart from enhancing access to finance for SMEs, which is the reason why we invest in securitisation transactions – we want to broaden the market.

Strategically, we are there as the first mover most of the time. And when we see that the market has the potential and the depth to pick up on its own, then we tend to play a lesser role in this market. A perfect example of that is Poland, where we only did one transaction last year.

Q: What is you outlook for this year? Do you expect an expansion away from core SME/corporate portfolios?
A: As you rightly pointed out, our bread and butter is in the SME securitisation transactions. However, for years, we have not been limited to SMEs only. Actually, one of the transactions that we concluded in Bulgaria last year is a mixed portfolio of SME and consumer loans.

But we also have pure consumer portfolios and pure mortgage portfolios and are therefore not solely limited to SMEs. However, the vast majority of our investments are indeed in transactions backed by SME collateral.

We invest in securitisation transactions to enhance access to financing for areas which are of strategic policy objectives. SMEs is one of those areas, but green financing is another one.

We can decide to invest in a mortgage-backed portfolio, whereby we ask the originator to commit to originating new mortgages which are for green housing only. In that sense, we would be active also in other asset classes, as long as we can establish that there would be something positive done either for SMEs or for the green transformation as a result of our investment.

To conclude, I expect this region to be a backbone of our investment for the coming years.

Vincent Nadeau

For a sell-side perspective on the CEE SRT market, read our recent interview with UniCredit (SCI 5 January).

Structured Finance

Job swaps weekly: All change at Voya as new ceo announced

People moves and key promotions in securitisation

This week’s roundup of securitisation job swaps sees Voya Investment Management announce a successor to retiring ceo Christine Hurtsellers. Elsewhere, Greystone has snapped up an industry veteran as senior md for structured finance, while Slate Asset Management has promoted two executives to md in Chicago and Frankfurt.

Matt Toms is to take over as ceo at Voya Investment Management after the firm’s incumbent ceo Christine Hurtsellers announced her plans to retire in 2024. Toms, who is currently global chief investment officer, will take over the reins with immediate effect, while Hurtsellers will take up a strategic advisor role until her retirement takes effect.

Voya has also announced that Morgan Stanley fixed income cio Eric Stein will join the business as head of investments and cio for fixed income. Stein leaves Morgan Stanley after two years with the firm. He was previously cio at Eaton Vance, where he spent 14 years.

Hurtsellers joined Voya in late 2004 and was promoted from cio to ceo in September 2016. She previously spent six years as a portfolio manager at Freddie Mac and had stints at AllianceBernstein and Bank One.

Toms has been with Voya since 2009. He previously worked at Calamos Investments, Northern Trust and Lincoln Financial Group.

Elsewhere, Greystone has hired industry veteran Steven Caligor as senior md of structured finance, based in its New York office. In his new role, he will be tasked with “managing and expanding client relationships” and “channels of loan origination”, according to a statement issued by Greystone.

Caligor leaves his role as executive vp and head of structured finance for CRE and healthcare at BHI. He initially joined BHI in April 2016 and rejoined at the end of 2017 after a four-month stint as senior md at Monticello Asset Management. He has also previously worked at Signature Bank and Bank Leumi.

Slate Asset Management has promoted Desmond Vindici and Sven Vollenbruch to md in Chicago and Frankfurt respectively. 

Vindici is promoted from the role of senior vice president, having joined the firm in early 2022. He focuses on capital markets and CMBS at Slate Real Estate Capital. Vindici joined Slate from Wells Fargo, where he spent 16 years and was most recently director for principal investments with a focus on CMBS and CRE investments.

Vollenbruch is also promoted from senior vice president after having been with the business for five and a half years. He is responsible for the origination and execution of European investments, as well as leading the portfolio management and strategic oversight of Slate’s European funds and portfolios. Vollenbruch previously worked at JLL.

IACPM has appointed Anna Olsen as senior advisor. Olsen was previously head of credit and portfolio management, Europe and Americas at Standard Chartered Bank, which she joined in July 2007. Before that, she was a portfolio manager at Rabobank and a credit analyst at Merrill Lynch.

Investcorp Credit Management has promoted Barry Lane to md, responsible for European CLO issuance. Based in London, he was previously a director at the firm, having joined 3i Debt Management in 2004.

Ares Management Corporation has hired former Hayfin partner and portfolio manager Stefano Questa as partner and co-head of Europe for alternative credit, based in London. Questa spent six years at Hayfin and previously worked at TPG Sixth Street Partners and Goldman Sachs.

Stephen Hughes has joined ARA Venn to head up its risk and asset management team. The former KBRA director will join the specialist investment manager’s office in London. Hughes previously had stints at both Fitch Ratings and Moody’s. He joined KBRA in 2020, where he served as the head of European CMBS, CRE and loan ratings and head of portfolio management.

Mission Driven Finance has hired Community Vision CA’s Risa Blumlein Keeper as senior director for structured finance. Blumlein Keeper leaves her position as interim director within Community Vision’s catalytic capital team after seven years with the business. She was previously finance director at Social Venture Circle and deputy director at BKS Iyengar Yoga Association of Northern California.

Mitsubishi HC Capital America has appointed Anand Rao as md of private credit in its structured finance division. Rao is currently a strategic consultant and board advisor to start-up businesses, having left his role as senior vice president at Audax Private Debt in 2020 after 12 years with the business. Prior to Audax, he spent six years at GE Capital.

David Saitowitz has joined Intermediate Capital Group as head of US liquid credit, based in New York. In his new role, he will focus on managing the firm’s US syndicated loans and high yield bonds strategies. Saitowitz leaves his role as partner and co-head of US performing credit and head of industry research at Apollo Global Management, where he spent more than a decade. He previously worked at Stone Tower Capital and JP Morgan.

Marathon Asset Management has recruited Tod Trabocco as md and product strategist within its private credit asset management business, based in New York. He was previously an md at Aksia and an investment committee member at Pennington Alternative Investment Management, having worked at ITE Management, Cambridge Associates, Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors, CIFC, Moody’s and the EBRD before that.

Chorus Capital has promoted Giorgio Gallo to head of portfolio management. Gallo joined the firm as portfolio manager in 2011, having previously been a fixed income analyst at Legal & General Investment Management and a credit strategist at Lehman Brothers.

Arthur Cox has named Peter Murphy as partner within its banking and finance practice. Based in the firm’s Dublin office, Murphy advises banks, funds and other financial institutions on matters relating to securitisations, SRTs, general structured finance transactions, derivatives, collateralisation structures and regulatory capital-driven transactions. Before joining Arthur Cox in November 2020, he trained and qualified in London, where he spent approximately five years working for Clifford Chance.

Jennifer Ellis has joined Reed Smith as counsel in its securitisation practice, based in London. She was previously counsel at Linklaters – where she worked with Mark Drury, another recent Reed Smith hire (SCI 18 December 2023) – having been at Milbank and Freshfields before that.

Ruhi Patil has joined Dentons as counsel in its DCM, structured finance and derivatives team, based in London. Specialising in repack transactions and synthetic securitisations, Patil was previously managing associate at Linklaters, which she joined in January 2017.

And finally, JLL has hired Rodrigo Magan Garcia to its debt and structured finance team based in Madrid. Magan Garcia leaves his role as associate in Alantra’s credit portfolio advisory team after three and a half years with the firm. He previously worked at Deloitte and Banco Santander.