◆ VW misses ESG deadline 
◆ Good times for ABS 
◆ CLO triple-A funds fear fall from power

All three podcasters were reunited once again after a good week all around. While Tom tried the best burger in NYC (second best, everyone knows Corner Bistro is the best - Ed) and Victoria had reason to feel famous, George held the Big Car to account. 

Volkswagen broke its promise to provide loan level emissions data for its ABS transactions. Worse, the car maker did not offer GlobalCapital a good explanation for why it missed the deadline.

Market conditions are looking good for European securitization, but a steady stream of deals looks more likely than a mad rush. 

And while CLO equity investors are willing to at least consider buying deals again, investors in triple-A rated tranches see their bargaining power waning. 

This week's episode of Another Fine Mezz was a tale of determination, of squeezing every last drop you have left. 

Firstly, the clouds look to be finally clearing for UK buy-to-let (BTL) lenders, leading OneSavings Bank subsidiary Charter Court to drive its latest UK BTL RMBS tighter. 

Then in European CLOs, managers continued to take advantage of strong sentiment as they crunched spreads tighter and tighter with some now eyeing the 140bp range on the triple-As. That's better than the US market, and about 30bp tighter than the end of 2023. 

And finally, Securitization Editor Tom Lemmon returned to host. That was despite his voice nearly deserting him and knowing that his film debut on LinkedIn was likely to see him bullied. 

Another week, another episode of Another Fine Mezz with a man down as Tom Lemmon faced yet more roadblocks on his path to being a complete US employee. 

Back in London, Victoria Thiele stood in as host to proudly proclaim herself as a dark horse for securitization podcast host of the year. 

As the newest jet-setter in the podcasting trio, George Smith reported back from a hectic week where he moderated a panel at IMN's CEE Securitization Summit in Vienna. Meanwhile, there was a glorious resumption of issuance in the euro ABS market with issuers growing their books and tightening spreads seemingly at will. 

Slightly less glamorous but no less important, Victoria discussed how the broadly syndicated CLO market is set to launch its counter offensive against the private credit players that have taken so much of its lunch (and airtime). 

Finally, there was an urgent appeal for specialist UK mortgage lender Dilosk to add an extra shelf for its RMBS programs. 

◆ Europeans want UK RMBS
◆ ESMA perplexes investors
◆ CLO amortisation: a vanishing act

Just two weeks into the year and Another Fine Mezz is one man down. The cold, the jet lag and a US bank holiday conspired to take Tom Lemmon out; leaving Victoria Thiele and George Smith to discuss the latest in European securitization between themselves. 

With deals galore in the UK RMBS market, it was a near miracle that George found the time to talk to investors about their confusion at the European Securities and Markets Authority's suggestion that they could have been anything but against simplified disclosure templates.

The CLO market is off to a much slower start than ABS, although a few managers have started to market deals. Victoria thinks those that are not should not wait too long. 

Amortisations of vintage CLOs could wash some welcome cash into the primary market. But despite a few liquidations in the last two weeks, Victoria is not too hopeful that managers and equity owners will be sprinting to repay debt investors early. 

With 2024 upon us, the Another Fine Mezz team are calling this week's episode the first of season 2. 

All three of Tom Lemmon, Victoria Thiele and George Smith were recording this week, while George was particularly needed after a rapid start to the new year in UK prime RMBS. Lloyds' Permanent deal also got a rather snazzy cartoon for George to brag about. 

However, Victoria may feel that she could have had a couple more days recovering from her NYE exploits with loan prices looking like they might delay Euro CLO issuance in January.

Meanwhile, Tom's regulation addiction got a welcome hit after a consultation paper from the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) was released just before Christmas. 

 And finally, the team discussed the brilliance of George's upper lip hair. 

In the last episode before Christmas, George Smith and Victoria Thiele discuss why Europe’s ESG securitization issuers are still feeling upbeat despite the lack of a clear ‘greenium’.

Tom Lemmon was off this week, hopefully brushing up on his golf skills, after George Smith’s exploits at the GlobalCapital Christmas party put his status as Another Fine Mezz’s resident putting expert into doubt.

Victoria also had an update on the CLO market this week and the pipeline for January, which is heating up too. 

This week's episode of Another Fine Mezz went all Sci-Fi thanks to reporters George Smith and Victoria Thiele. 

Intrigued by some survey data on the use of tools like ChatGPT, the question was whether artificial intelligence could start becoming more widely used in securitization and CLOs. It's unclear exactly how it'll be used and whether avid listeners to the podcast should be fearful for their jobs. 

Meanwhile, host Tom Lemmon endured a manic week at Opal's CLO Summit in Dana Point, California. 

As is becoming increasingly common, a lot of talk was around the emergence of private credit in CLOs this year. However, as the sector grows and the market builds around it, expect more scrutiny over liquidity and transparency, particularly if performance starts to wane. 

And finally, GlobalCapital's European Securitization Awards 2024 went live this week. To vote and not end up bottom of the pile a la Manchester United, click here.

Host Tom Lemmon retuned for this week's episode of Another Fine Mezz, while reporters Victoria Thiele and George Smith were well-recovered from their midweek escapades with some unnamed contacts. 

It seems European CLO investors are feeling pretty happy with themselves after a successful year where the asset class outperformed a number of competitors. 

It's outlook season and so George was in London to hear a range of forecasts before giving his own, which argued that 2024 should be strong for European securitization, regardless of recession risks. 

And finally, Tom explains why the chicken wing index is serious sauce. 

With Tom Lemmon off giving thanks for a conveniently timed move to New York, Victoria Thiele and George Smith held the fort on this week’s episode of Another Fine Mezz.

Over the week, George and Tom had done a deep dive into Nationwide’s ‘stock and drop’ tactic for speeding up RMBS distribution, briefly mentioned on the previous episode. George explains why it’s a great idea, but won’t spare the market a bigger conversation about regulation.

Meanwhile, a commercial mortgage RMBS deal by Together illustrated the danger of over-categorising in the securitization market - at one point, it was mislabelled as a CMBS deal.

The European CLO market has begun to wind down for the end of the year. While banks publish their forecasts for mediocre issuance volumes next year, market participants turn a hopeful eye to middle market CLOs.

On this week's episode of Another Fine Mezz, reporters George Smith and Victoria Thiele put up with a rather exhausted and jet lagged host, Tom Lemmon. 

Arini priced its long-awaited debut European CLO but as is becoming the norm for new entrants into the market, both in Europe and the US, the firm had to pay a slight premium. However, that in itself is not a bad thing, as Victoria also wrote on Thursday. 

Meanwhile, European securitization was beginning its descend into holiday hibernation with little primary market activity. 

However, Nationwide's fully retained Silverstone deal is an intriguing development. The UK high-street lender's idea is to issue a fully retained prime RMBS before selling it on over the following 12 months in what they've termed a "stock and drop".