All insights

As the credit cycle develops across different economies, our asset allocation changes to reflect that, and if it looks to be at a mature stage in a specific country then our natural focus on credit quality becomes more important; we are always trying to avoid next year’s problem credits, whether in the financial, corporate or securitised markets.

1994 was my first full year in the markets, and what a baptism of fire it was.

As we start the new year and approach the 5th anniversary since the issue of the first European Additional Tier 1 (AT1) bond (BBVA 9% Perp-18), it is a good time to re-assess the sector in the current market.

As most of our readers know, ABS is an asset class that lends itself well to detailed underwriting, from onsite due diligence through to cashflow and risk modelling.

The magnitude of the strong beginning to the year has probably surprised even those who were forecasting a positive start to 2018.

The BTL sector has taken a bit of a pounding over the last couple of years, as authorities introduced a number of harsh measures to counter fears of “financial stability risks” posed by growth in lending, with concerns that future financial tightening could lead to a surge in landlords looking to exit the market should they become stressed, and subsequently cause a house price crash.  The measures included:

Way back in the summer of 2012 we wrote in our blog Picking up the PieCeS about a newly launched industry initiative to develop a set of best practice criteria for European ABS, awarding those deals that met the conditions with a label of qualification.

Ben Hayward looks back at performance for Asset Backed Securities over the last few months and provides an outlook for the rest of the year.

Eoin Walsh discusses performance for the Strategic Income strategy over the last quarter and provides his outlook for the rest of 2017.

Chris Bowie looks back at performance for the Outcome Driven strategy and provides his outlook for the rest of the year.

Ben Hayward looks back at performance for Asset Backed Securities over the last few months and provides an outlook for the rest of the year.

Chris Bowie discusses Q2 performance of the Outcome Driven strategy and provides his outlook for the rest of the year.