Capital Relief Trades
Capital relief trades are deals put together by banks to sell on to investors to reduce the bank's regulatory capital requirements.
Such deals can take many forms, but SCI focuses on those where synthetic or securitisation structures are utilised.
Those deals can be broken down into the following broad categories (deals can be combinations of these categories):
CDS - credit default swaps: in the capital relief trade context, this denotes deals that utilise such instruments to transfer credit risk.
CLN - credit-linked note: in the capital relief trade context, this denotes the deal is structured as a note with an embedded credit derivative.
Fin gtee - Financial guarantee: a means of structuring a capital relief trade, whereby the investors benefit from a guarantee that all the issuer's obligations will be met.
Funded: where a capital relief trade is understood to have been structured using a credit derivative (CDS, CLN, synthetic CDO etc) with the protection seller making an initial payment.
Unfunded: where a capital relief trade is understood to have been structured without an initial payment being made under the credit derivative (CDS, CLN, synthetic CDO etc).
True sale: a capital relief trade based on a cash securitisation structure rather than a synthetic securitisation structure.
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MDBs in a changing SRT world - video
EIF's Flavio Cabas talks to SCI about SRTs, the role of MDBs and regulatory developments
....... News Analysis 22 October 2026
Irish lender targets 25-30bps capital benefit from project finance SRT
SRT market update
SRT Market Update 21 October 2026
SCI Risk Sharing Awards: Outstanding Contribution to SRT
Winner: Timothy Cleary, Clifford Chance
SCI’s Outstanding Contribution to SRT Award for 2026 recognises Clifford Chance partner Timothy Cleary for a career spanning the emergence, near-disappearance and eventual rehabilitation of the synthetic securitisation market.
Cleary began working in synthetic securitisation in the early 2000s, before the financial crisis, when the market was still in its formative stages. While many of the leading .......
News 21 October 2026
Spanish lender breaks new ground with first leasing-backed synthetic SRT
SRT market update
SRT Market Update 21 October 2026
SCI Risk Sharing Awards: SRT Team of the Year
Winner: IFC
IFC does not simply execute deals. Given its MDB status, it also builds risk-transfer pathways for emerging market banks, insurers and institutional investors to undertake capital-efficient, profitable and developmentally impactful transactions. For its pioneering role in creating structures where formal SRT might not yet be fully feasible, undertaking both debut and follow-on SRTs to deepen risk transfer in emerging .......
News 21 October 2026
Views from Miami: Esoterics, digital infra and SRTs set to lead 2027
Investors anticipate growth in legal credit and sport but remain cautious on the macro-outlook
Esoteric assets, digital infrastructure and SRTs are at the forefront of the market for 2027 according to discussions at the 32nd annual ABS East conference in Miami, attended by SCI.
One panellist said assets such as music, sports and legal credit are next for capital growth, and expects permanent capital requirements to push more opportunity into structured credit .......
News Analysis 20 October 2026
SCI Risk Sharing Awards: Service Provider of the Year
Winner: iconicchain
iconicchain boasts over US$250bn in processed transaction volume, 20% global SRT issuance coverage, 100% client retention and 150%-plus year-on-year growth during the awards qualifying period. In recognition of the platform’s credentials as a widely adopted tool that improves efficiency, supports complex execution and accelerates market standards, it is Service Provider of the Year in SCI’s 2026 Risk Sharing Awards.
News 20 October 2026
SCI In Focus: EBA mandate sought as EU weighs safeguards for insurer-backed SRT
Industry seeks transitional rules and an EBA impact assessme...
The SRT industry is calling for a transitional framework and an impact assessment by the European Banking Authority (EBA) as EU negotiators consider safeguards for insurer-provided unfunded credit protection (UFCP). The proposed review would assess how STS safeguards under the Securitisation Regulation (SECR) interact with resilience requirements under the Capital Requirements Regulation (CRR), including whether the rules duplicate existing .......
News Analysis 20 October 2026
UK-based lender boosts corporate SRT amid strong demand
SRT market update
SRT Market Update 20 October 2026
SCI Risk Sharing Awards: North American Law Firm of the Year
Winner: Mayer Brown
Mayer Brown combines strong US risk transfer transaction activity with meaningful policy advocacy on US capital rules during the awards qualifying period. In recognition of its ‘one-stop shop’ profile and diversified representation levels across innovative structures, the firm is SCI’s pick for North American Law Firm of the Year in the 2026 Risk Sharing Awards.
The firm has .......
News 20 October 2026
Private credit seeks clarity into structured exposures
ABF takes asset pole position amid surging BDC expansion
After a series of bankruptcies, early redemptions and negative headlines, the private credit industry is getting more serious about understanding and addressing the exposures it faces, say those close to the industry.
News Analysis 20 October 2026
SCI Risk Sharing Awards: European Law Firm of the Year
Winner: Latham & Watkins
SCI selected Latham & Watkins as European Law Firm of the Year in the 2026 Risk Sharing Awards, recognising the firm’s role expanding significant risk transfer (SRT) into new jurisdictions and asset classes. The firm’s strength in multilateral development bank (MDB), development finance institution (DFI) and environmental, social and governance (ESG)-linked structures, combined with strong transaction volume and investor-side .......
News 19 October 2026
SCI Risk Sharing Awards: North American Arranger of the Year
Winner: BMO
Established over a decade ago, BMO’s dedicated risk transfer team, Risk & Capital Solutions (R&CS), now operates as a mature in-house arranger platform. For demonstrating scale, repeat issuance, programme breadth, investor engagement and arranger-led execution, the firm is SCI’s North American Arranger of the Year in the 2026 Risk Sharing Awards.
BMO was the first Canadian bank to .......
News 19 October 2026
SCI Risk Sharing Awards: European Arranger of the Year
Winner: Revel Partners
As an independent arranger, Revel Partners is not simply arranging repeat trades for large issuers; it is expanding the issuer base and bringing less familiar collateral types and regional banks into the SRT market. In recognition of its clear strategic focus on first-time and infrequent issuers, underrepresented jurisdictions and asset classes where structuring practices are still developing, the firm .......
News 16 October 2026
SCI In Focus: Insurers' role in SRT market hangs on EU securitisation deal
Provisional agreement on insurer eligibility marks progress,...
European policymakers are moving towards an agreement on the EU securitisation package, but unresolved capital requirements and restrictions on unfunded credit protection (UFCP) could shape (re)insurers’ role in the significant risk transfer market, according to Pablo Pascual Salcedo, senior account manager at FleishmanHillard, speaking in a personal capacity.
Co-legislators reached a provisional agreement on four .......
News Analysis 16 October 2026
Job swaps weekly: Pemberton hires former Insight pm as risk sharing director
People moves and key promotions in structured credit
The structured credit market saw a busy week of senior hires, promotions and new mandates, including Pemberton Asset Management's appointment of a new director of risk sharing. The moves also include new leadership roles across SRT and credit structuring at Standard Chartered and Lloyds, CLO build-outs at NorthWall and Sculptor, and senior hires spanning ABF, fund finance and credit .......
Market Moves 16 October 2026
SCI Risk Sharing Awards: North American Issuer of the Year
Winner: BMO
BMO’s issuer credentials speak for themselves: eight SRT programmes, more than US$77bn of commitments hedged across 40 transactions over a 10-year period and a broad investor network. In a year that saw the launch of its new Biscotasi programme and transactions that evolved the Sauble and Quetico shelves, the bank is North American Issuer of the Year in SCI’s .......
News 16 October 2026
SCI Risk Sharing Awards: European Issuer of the Year
Winner: UniCredit
UniCredit combines scale, multi-country reach, capital impact and strategic integration of SRT across its Group Balance Sheet Management processes. For generating circa twice the amount of organic capital versus its core peers* via its ARTS SRT programme during the 2021-2025 period, the bank is European Issuer of the Year in SCI’s 2026 Risk Sharing Awards.
UniCredit ranks in .......
News 15 October 2026
Credit fears mount as AI financing risks grow
IACPM's Som-lok Leung warns of rising credit risks as higher rates and AI financing concerns mount
Credit portfolio managers are increasingly concerned about deteriorating credit conditions, with rising interest rates, uncertainty surrounding AI financing and geopolitical risks contributing to expectations of wider spreads and higher defaults, according to Som-lok Leung, executive director at the International Association of Credit Portfolio Managers (IACPM).
The IACPM's third-quarter 2026 Credit Outlook Survey found that its Major Markets .......
News 15 October 2026
SCI Risk Sharing Awards: (Re)insurer of the Year
Winner: AXIS
AXIS has been named (Re)insurer of the Year in SCI’s 2026 Risk Sharing Awards. The award recognises the team’s disciplined growth, technical expertise and contribution to notable multilateral, emerging-market and other innovative significant risk transfer (SRT) transactions during the awards period.
Since entering the SRT market in 2022, AXIS has built the business deliberately and on a risk-controlled .......
News 15 October 2026