What Banks Hope You Never Understand - Who Owns The Debt!
What Banks Hope You Never Understand - Who Owns The Debt What Is Securitization? Securitization is when a bank or company takes many loans (for example home loans, car loans, or credit-card debt) and bundles them together to create new investments. In this process the loans are sold to a special‐purpose company (often called a trust or SPV) and that company “issues tradable, interest-bearing securities” to investorsimf.orgimf.org. In other words, the SPV sells bonds (asset‐backed securities) whose payments come from the loan payments. When borrowers pay on their loans, the money goes to a servicer (usually the original bank) which then passes those payments through a trustee to the investors, minus a servicing feeimf.org. In securitization the bank no longer legally owns the loans – the trust/SPV does – and the loan payments (interest and principal) “are passed through to the purchasers” of the securitiesimf.orgocc.gov. (An IMF “back to basics” guide explains that step one is selling the loan pool to an SPV and step two is the SPV issuing securities to investorsimf.orgimf.org.) Securitization lets lenders raise money by selling loans, and it also spreads the risk of default to many investors instead of just the bankimf.orgocc.gov. For example, by converting home loans or credit cards into bonds, a bank can get cash faster and reduce the amount of risky loans on its balance sheet. Regulators treat securitized loans differently than loans held on the bank’s own booksimf.org. In principle this “originate and distribute” approach can spread out credit risk and make finance saferimf.org. How It Works In a securitization, several parties play different roles. The originator (e.g. the bank or finance company) makes the loans. The originator sells the loans to a bankruptcy-remote SPV (special-purpose vehicle or trust). The SPV then issues bonds to investors; investors fund the SPV and in return get paid from the loan payments. The originator often stays on as the servicer, collecting monthly payments from borrowers and handing them over to the SPV’s trustee. (Any trustee or agent ensures payments are distributed per the contract.) Sometimes there are credit enhancements (like insurance or reserves) to protect investors. As the U.S. banking supervisor notes, securitization “redistributes risk by breaking up the traditional role of the lender into specialized roles: originator, servicer, credit enhancer, underwriter, trustee, and investor”occ.gov. In short, the bank makes loans, sells them off, issues securities through the SPV, and a servicer (often the same bank) collects payments to send on to bondholders. (Rating agencies and underwriters also help structure and sell the securities.)