European securitization in 2004 is set to exceed the issuance record set last year, according to a report from the European Securitization Forum.
In the first six months of this year ?125.6 billion of bonds were issued in Europe, putting the market on course to exceed the ?217.2 billion issued in 2003. In the same period last year ?95.1 billion in bonds were issued, 32.2% lower than this year.
Although mortgage-backed securities (MBS) still dominate the market, accounting for ?70.1 million of the issuance in the first six months of 2004, it is non-mortgage asset-backed securities (ABS) that accounted for the majority of the growth on last year. MBS grew 17.4% from ?59.7 billion in the first half of 2003, while ABS grew 56.8%.
This is good news for corporate securitization, which usually takes the form of ABS rather than MBS. According to a separate report from Standard & Poor's, European corporate issuance totalled £6.7 billion in the first half of 2004, up from £3.7 billion in the first half of 2003. Of the eight transactions to June this year, six originated in the UK, one in Italy and the other in France.