All eyes on Barcelona as Global ABS kicks off

Good morning, hope you’re all excited to head off to Barcelona for the 30th Global ABS. I think this is my seventh, and mainly now I just stress about my totally logical fear of flying.

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Just a quick FYI - One of my colleagues is a resident in Barcelona and he tells me that we should expect extra travel trouble because the Pope is visiting the city at the same time as all of us...

I know it never is, but I wonder if Global ABS may feel like welcome respite to the bankers in particular after a full-on few weeks, topped off by last week which saw 19 deals price across ABS and CLOs in Europe.

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In euros, the star of the show was undoubtedly Stellantis’ German Auto ABS from its ECARAT shelf, the €1bn ECARAT DE SA, Compartment Lease 2026-1. Some of the demand was frankly ridiculous, especially the €81m double-B rated Class E’s, which was 8.2x covered. That’s €583m of unfulfilled demand, meaning more mouths went unfed on the Class E’s than Class A’s (€560m unfulfilled).

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Meanwhile, in sterling there was good variety as the UK market continued its good run of form. Credit card lender, Vanquis Bank hit screens for the first time since 2021 with its second edition of Oban Cards in a £300m deal. I would love to know the story behind that shelf name… sounds like a whiskey story to me.

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And we also had a now rather familiar “stock & drop” from Nationwide’s Silverstone platform, which reoffered £350m at 50bps over Sonia, while pricing just below par. But with the pre-Barca rush now over, all eyes are on the conference.

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Of course, there’s an awful lot of meetings to get through but there’s also an awful lot of panels to see. I’m lucky to be doing two this year. The first on Tuesday at 2pm in the Exhibit Hall is with Heike Hoehl, Director of ABS Syndicate at ING. We’ll be getting into the weeds of life on the syndicate desk, looking at what it’s really like working at the coalface of the ABS market, while also looking back a bit on Heike’s career. If you’re a younger reader in the market, I think this is definitely one where you can get some good nuggets of advice.

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And secondly, I’ll be doing the Researchers Roundtable on Wedsneday at 4pm with Citi’s Aritra Banerjee, Rabobank’s Maartje Schriever, European DataWarehouse’s Christian Thun, and Moody’s Steve Kidd. So, lots and lots of expertise to talk about the market, AI/data and technology, and more.

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Aside from that, below is a quick list of my five panels to watch if you manage to get a spare moment.

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Tuesday 9th June: Keynote Speaker: Mohamed El-Erian

Tuesday 9th June, 09:05, P1-12

One of the most famous and most respected economists in the world, and surely someone who can give a great perspective for what ABS market participants should be thinking about over the coming months and years.

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Safe as Houses? Equity Release & Mortgage Product Innovation

Tuesday 9th June, 14:00, P1-13

Panel featuring experts in the ERM space from Citi, Simmons & Simmons, ARC Ratings, KBRA and ING. A market which could soon be taking off beyond just the UK and into Europe. Definitely one to watch.

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Spread Out, or Spread Thin?: The Traders’ Roundtable

Tuesday 9th June, 14:00, P1-12

I was always told as a journalist that the traders were often the most revealing of panels. More than anyone, these guys tended to have their finger on the pulse. Featuring Lloyds, JP Morgan, SMBC and Morgan Stanley.

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Keynote Speaker: Lord Mark Sedwill

Wednesday 10th June, 09:30, P1-12

With the war in Iran ongoing, as news this weekend showed, this will likely be one of the most important panels to hear from someone with first-hand experience of top-level politics. Lord Sedwill served as Cabinet Secretary to former Prime Ministers Theresa May and Boris Johnson, while he was also the UK ambassador to Afghanistan.

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Coming of Age: Private Credit, the New Goliath?

Wednesday 10th June, 11:15, P1-12

Interesting panel featuring speakers from Clifford Chance, Apollo and Ares. Looking at how private credit is expanding into the securitization sphere through asset-backed finance.

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Final Word

That’s all from me. Have a great week, and if you’re in Barcelona feel free to come along to stand E6 to meet me and the rest of the Concept ABS team. We’re doing a quiz which gets you into the draw for a Nintendo Switch!

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Cheers,

Tom