10/5/2026
Good morning, hope you all had a lovely weekend. It seems the pace of European ABS is getting rather more gentle now, but as we head into October, it can often mean that we get rather more interesting transactions coming to the fore.
Nowhere was that more obvious than with UK Mortgage Lending’s latest non-conforming RMBS, the £550m (equivalent) Polaris 2026-3.
That’s because the Class A1 notes were offered in US dollars, the first time any Polaris deal had done so. It was also the first time USD has been offered in a non-conforming UK RMBS since the GFC, according to Concept ABS data.
It’s an eye-catching development, but in and of itself was not enough to alter investors’ new-found assertiveness. The market feels like it needs a breather and with broader macroeconomic concerns to deal with, not least UK gilts hitting their highest levels since 1998 following the governing Labour Party’s conference, issuers are being forced to adapt to a new reality.
Endless tightening is simply no longer on the cards, and while no syndicate desk can change that, you’d imagine that this is where those bankers really earn their corn. What is achievable on pricing is less obvious than it was, so what should the strategy be? Rather than simply reset expectations 5-10bps wider, it looks like issuers are also hedging their bets by going for a bit more size in the absence of the best spreads.
Polaris went from £477m to £550m, making it one of the largest non-prime RMBS deals of the year. Meanwhile, Lendable’s Hoxton Consumer Loan Funding 2026-2 went from £750m to £900m. And the Irish Prime RMBS from Dilosk, the eponymous Dilosk No.12 went from €272m to €413m.
All clearly had enough demand to push harder on pricing, but likely decided it wasn’t worth it. The positive remains that accounts are still there, they just want to get paid.
As for this week, there are two deals which look set to price and a further two expected the following week with BBVA, RCI Banque, LiveMore and Plenti Finance all marketing.
Not satisfied with announcing our first ever Concept ABS Awards Night in November, we are also launching our first ever “Briefing” event in November too!
In partnership with the compliance technology company ARC Comply and law firm CMS UK we’ll be hosting a breakfast briefing event in London to discuss how the market moves from discovering problems to building controls that make collateral fraud materially harder to execute. In addition, we’ll be joined by Yoann Bredillot, Executive Director at Natixis and Hassan Ahmed, Director of DCM at Together
Money. Luca Primerano, CEO of ARC Comply and Jason Blick, counsel at CMS UK will also be on the panel.
You’ll be hearing more about the event in the coming days and weeks, including how to attend. For now, please sign up to the mailing list so we can get in touch directly by doing so at the bottom of the page here.
More broadly, the Briefing Event concept is designed with a few key considerations. Firstly, we want to give you actionable things to take
away from each event, not just an interesting little chat to listen to and forget by the end of the day. Secondly, we know that you’re short on time, and so these events are designed to be short, sharp and to the point, meaning you’ve not lost a whole day or a whole evening.
The event is at Sushi Samba in Heron Tower near Liverpool Street station on November 5th from 8am-11am. I hope to see many of you there.
UK Mortgage Lending Ltd (trading as Pepper Money) has brought the third UK non-conforming rmbs of the year from its well-established Polaris brand. With 2026 supply of UK collateral certain to set a post-GFC record while wider bond market turbulence and ratcheting middle east tensions provide unwanted – not to mention negative – background music – investors can't be taken for granted. The market isn't quite as strong as it was earlier in the year. Indeed, the most recent Sterling deals have laboured somewhat at the triple-A level...click here to read the full overview on Concept ABS.
With c.£32bn sold in 2026 YTD, the sterling ABS primary market has already surged past 2025's full year placement of £25bn and is set to comfortably exceed 2024's post GFC record of £33.6bn. Indeed, Q3's placement of c.£12bn hasn't been bested in nearly 20 years. No fewer than nine transactions featuring UK collateral priced in September alone (a run rate not matched since the halcyon pre-financial crisis days). Although Sterling demand was starting to feel a little fatigued before the summer break, investors remain engaged as we approach Q4.
However, they are more price sensitive than in H1 of this year. With so much to choose from, investors have become more assertive. Recent rmbs deals have boasted strong coverage across the stack – below triple-A – but at pricing levels that are not quite the tightest seen this year. As for triple-A tranches, momentum is tougher to generate than earlier in the year. Furthermore, with the middle east conflict threatening to escalate and global bond weakness, accounts need little encouragement to push back.
With sales so far in 2026 hitting £8bn, UK n-c rmbs is having its busiest year since 2007. Nonetheless, the latest Polaris stood out – the programme offering a USD tranche for the first time. Indeed, this is the first time accounts have been offered UK n-c paper in Dollars post-GFC (the Issuer prioritising allocations for onshore USD accounts). To further draw eyeballs, the leads started with benign IPTs...click here to read the full Market Context on Concept ABS.
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