Industry Initiatives to Increase Transparency in European Securitisation Markets Released

Nine European and global trade associations, including SIFMA, released Ten Industry Initiatives to Increase Transparency in the European Securitisation Markets in response to the European Council of Finance Ministers’ (ECOFIN) call, in its October 2007 Roadmap, to “enhance transparency for investor, markets and regulators” by “mid-2008”. 

The ten initiatives are broad in scope and include (1) a Draft Industry Good Practice Guidelines on Securitisation Disclosures under Pillar 3 of the Capital Requirements Directive (CRD), and (2) the creation of a new industry Quarterly Securitisation Data Report, which provides comprehensive, frequent and relevant statistical data on EU and US securitisation markets.  In addition, the industry initiatives go beyond the transparency requests specifically listed in the ECOFIN Roadmap, with eight additional issuer and investor focused initiatives designed to standardise issuer disclosure practices, broaden and facilitate investor access to transaction information, enhance usability and comparability of information, and strengthen investor good practice.  The nine associations are: Commercial Mortgage Securities Association; European Association of Co-operative Banks; European Association of Public Banks and Funding Agencies; European Banking Federation; European Savings Banks Group; European Securitisation Forum; International Capital Market Association; London Investment Banking Association and the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association.