RMBS
Residential mortgage-backed securities, or RMBS, are bonds or notes created by securitisation that are backed by residential mortgages or residential real estate loans.
RMBS originators are typically financial institutions that originate residential real estate or residential mortgage loans, including banks, building societies/savings & loans and mortgage finance companies. However, issuers could also include government-guaranteed securities issued following bank bailouts, such as TARP or TALF, and the Government Sponsored Enterprises Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
To create residential mortgage-backed securities, or RMBS, institutions sell pools of their loans to a special-purpose vehicle, or SPV, which then sells the loans to a trust. The trust then repackages the loans as interest-bearing securities and issues them. This true sale of the loans to the SPV ensures that the RMBS is treated as bankruptcy-remote from the originator.
Many different types of assets back RMBS, including prime, non-conforming, sub-prime, Alt-A (or Alternative-A), buy-to-let and single-family rental (SFR) mortgages. The financial crisis caused residential mortgage valuations to plummet, leading to severe losses/defaults in many RMBS transactions (and ABS CDOs), as well as efforts to begin modifying loan documentation and indeed the creation of many credit/dislocation/distressed opportunity/recovery funds to take advantage of opportunities in the RMBS sector.
Post-crisis, the Government Sponsored Enterprises Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have developed a credit risk transfer market, comprising synthetic RMBS structures (whereby the risk is transferred via CDS tranches).
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Saudi Arabia's latest RMBS prints tighter, attracts wider investor base
SRC's second unwrapped RMBS achieves tighter pricing than 20...
The Saudi Real Estate Refinance Company (SRC)’s second unwrapped RMBS has priced tighter than last year's pilot transaction, as its landmark public ratings helped attract a deeper pool of domestic investors.
“The addition of ratings helped bring in a broader and deeper pool of investors than the pilot transaction, while also creating more price tension in the deal,” says John .......
News 16 October 2026
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Pepper eyes repeat dollar issuance after tapping US investors in latest UK RMBS
Pepper's Polaris 2026-3 taps new US-based investors with fir...
Polaris 2026-3 has brought a dollar-denominated senior tranche back to the public European RMBS market for the first time since Nationwide's Silverstone deal in January 2022, with strong demand from US accounts highlighting the potential for a broader investor base and supporting Pepper's plans for repeat dollar issuance.
The transaction, which priced on 10 October, included a US$198.4m .......
News Analysis 15 October 2026
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ABF holds the line as interval fund boom stalls
Consumer-linked funds keep delivering while redemptions at p...
ABF funds are holding the line in a lacklustre year for alternative credit, even as redemptions at private corporate credit vehicles have brought the runaway growth of US interval funds to a halt, according to Gapstow Capital Partners, whose latest peer-group report covers more than 250 alternative credit funds.
Interval funds expanded by roughly 30-60% annually for five or six years. In .......
News Analysis 8 October 2026
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Structured products show resilience amid credit weakness
Shifting technicals favour cash-rich buyers
European structured credit primary markets are back up and running after a brief pause last month, and the latest fixings from the SCI Composite Index (SCIx) reveal a deeply bifurcated market with a fierce rally in RMBS, and a mixed bag for ABS and CLO new issues.
RMBS was the standout tightening .......
News Analysis 5 October 2026
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Reckoner doubles down on risk retention platform with Bush appointment
Asset manager expands beyond CLO investing into risk retention financing
Reckoner Capital Management is to deepen its presence on the financing side of securitisation markets, after appointing Robert Bush as md within Reckoner Capital Company (RCC).
RCC was launched earlier this year to address what Reckoner sees as a structural gap in the market.
The hire signals the firm's strategic drive to diversify from a CLO .......
News Analysis 30 September 2026
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Job swaps weekly: Barings names head of global CLO issuance
People moves and key promotions in securitisation
This week’s roundup of securitisation job swaps sees Barings appointing a head of global CLO issuance and capital markets. Elsewhere, Silver Point Capital has named a former Golub Capital veteran as md, head of credit financing and leverage solutions, while Vistina has hired an md tasked with expanding the firm’s structured finance capabilities.
Ankit Aggarwal has joined Barings as head of global .......
Market Moves 18 September 2026
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TwentyFour preps new CLO and insurance-focused ABS strategies
Asset manager plans triple-A and mezzanine CLO fund launches...
TwentyFour Asset Management is launching three new strategies soon, comprising two CLO-related strategies and one ABS-related strategy, SCI has learned.
Specifically, the strategies include a triple-A CLO fund, a mezzanine CLO fund and a senior ABS strategy that “fits particularly well for insurance companies, given the changes being seen on the regulatory side”, a spokesperson from the firm confirms.
The .......
News 18 September 2026
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ABS supply accelerates in Q2 as mezzanine demand drives spread compression
Q2 ABS issuance accelerated as strong mezzanine demand drove...
The ABS primary market picked up pace through the second quarter of 2026, with investors absorbing heavier issuance even as demand became increasingly concentrated further down the capital structure.
SCI data shows 86 new public ABS transactions priced during the quarter, with activity rising from 21 deals in April to 32 in May and 33 in June. European .......
News Analysis 10 September 2026
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Saudi Arabia's first publicly rated RMBS marks milestone for nascent securitisation market
The deal, Sukuk Saudi Real Estate Refinance Company RMBS-2,...
Saudi Arabia has taken another step toward establishing a domestic securitisation market, with the Saudi Real Estate Refinance Company (SRC) unveiling the Kingdom's second unwrapped residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) transaction and the first to receive public ratings.
HSBC Saudi Arabia is again arranging and running the bookbuilding process for this second deal, Sukuk Saudi Real Estate Refinance Company RMBS-2, .......
News Analysis 8 September 2026
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Summer slowdown cools European structured credit
A quiet month for primary issuance, but active CLO and auto...
Amid the seasonal dip in securitisation market activity, today’s monthly fixings from the SCI Composite Index reveal a tightening – but increasingly bifurcated – market.
The European structured credit markets slowed over August, marked by a complete halt in primary issuance for RMBS and Consumer ABS, as well as reduced activity in the Auto ABS segment.
CLOs, being .......
News Analysis 1 September 2026
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Australian portfolio sales create new pipeline for ABS
Three major transactions have shifted A$55bn of loans in 202...
Australia's loan portfolio market is seeing a flurry of record-sized sales as banks look to simplify balance sheets and private capital increasingly provides an alternative home for assets once retained by lenders, with more than A$55bn changing hands in three major deals this year.
Notably, banks are increasingly treating these large portfolios of performing loans as assets that can be sold rather .......
News Analysis 25 August 2026
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Demand for mezzanine paper surges as European ABS investors move down cap stack
Investors are favouring riskier, higher-yielding ABS tranche...
European ABS investors are increasingly moving down the capital stack, hungry for yield, with new-issue book coverage showing materially stronger demand for mezzanine tranches than senior paper so far in 2026, according to SCI data.
Triple-A-rated tranches were 1.7 times covered on average across European ABS issuance so far in 2026, compared with 3.6 times .......
News Analysis 18 August 2026
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Transformation and turbulence
Readers recall the key events over SCI's first 20 years
The first issue of Structured Credit Investor was published this week in 2006 and since then the publication has provided structured credit news and analysis to the buyside through ever-changing times. SCI has documented not only the evolution of the securitisation markets over the last 20 years, but also the broader transformation of risk transfer and capital formation across .......
Talking Point 4 August 2026
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Junior risk-off spreads across European securitisation market
SCIx fixings show double-B widening turns universal in June, as senior spreads diverge by sector
The latest SCI Composite Index (SCIx) fixings show broad-based widening across the stack, a reversal from last month’s broad tightening, with two exceptions among the senior tranches.
Today’s monthly figures show junior risk-off sentiment went from isolated to universal across the European public securitisation markets. Last month, double-B widening was limited to the auto ABS sector, while CLO, RMBS, and Consumer .......
News Analysis 4 August 2026
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Job swaps weekly: Blackstone appoints successor to Leonard
People moves and key promotions in securitisation
This week’s roundup of securitisation job swaps sees Blackstone appointing a successor to outgoing European head of liquid credit strategies Alex Leonard. Elsewhere, SMBC Group has appointed a new head of its EMEA securitised products group syndicate, while Simpson Thacher & Bartlett has named a new London-based partner in its European finance and capital markets group.
Market Moves 31 July 2026
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The independent director myth: structured finance's most convenient governance fiction
Peterson Frederick, chairman and interim ceo of Northern Pro...
The ‘independent’ director on an SPV’s board is picked, paid and can be replaced by the very firm administering the vehicle they’re meant to police. Structured finance has spent three decades treating that as normal. It shouldn’t.
Every offering memorandum carries the same reassuring line: the Issuer’s board includes an independent director. Investors read it and move on. .......
Talking Point 30 July 2026
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SCI In Conversation Podcast: Kate Galustian, BlackRock
We discuss the hottest topics in securitisation today...
In this episode of SCI In Conversation, SCI senior reporter Camilla Vitanza sits down with BlackRock's head of ABS, Kate Galustian, to discuss the firm's Global Securitized Fund. Galustian outlines the outlook for securitised markets, where the team is finding value across structured credit, and why active security selection remains a key driver of performance in today's market.
News Analysis 29 July 2026
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Delphinus deal reflects homogeneous owner-occupied Dutch RMBS market, Fitch says
Fitch says the deal reflects the increasingly standardised n...
Rabobank and a.s.r.'s Delphinus 2026-I RMBS, backed by mortgages from the former Aegon business, illustrates the standardised nature of the Dutch owner-occupied RMBS market, where tighter underwriting standards, seasoned collateral and steadily low prepayments continue to support credit performance, according to Fitch Ratings.
Delphinus 2026-I marks the first securitisation of mortgages originated by the former Aegon mortgage business since .......
News 27 July 2026
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Job swaps weekly: Barings, HSBC and MUFG make key hires
People moves and key promotions in securitisation
This week's roundup of people moves sees Barings complete the integration of Gryphon Capital Investments with the appointment of Pete Robinson to its Australian ABF team, while Moelis has expanded its structured products franchise in New York and CLO industry veteran Herman Guelovani has announced his retirement from Aegon Asset Management. Elsewhere, HSBC has strengthened its structured finance business .......
Market Moves 24 July 2026
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Banks reshape the narrative in Q2 securitisation hires
Latest SCI Analytics Quarterly Job Swaps Report shows ABF do...
ABF continued its winning streak in 2Q2026, dominating 60% of all hires at mid-, senior- and C-suite-level, according to data captured in the latest SCI Analytics Quarterly Job Swaps Report.
The broader structured finance market has similarly continued to thrive as we reached the midpoint of the year. SCI captured 105 moves during 2Q2026, an 18% increase on .......
News Analysis 23 July 2026