On April 7, 2010, the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") proposed rules that would significantly alter existing Regulation AB, which governs registration, disclosure and reporting for asset-backed securities (as defined in Regulation AB, "ABS"), as well as other regulations relating to the private offering and sale of a more general category of structured finance products including ABS. The SEC's stated reason for the proposed revisions is to address the "central role" securitization played in the recent financial crisis. The proposed rules are intended to provide more information to potential investors about the pools of assets underlying the securities, give potential investors more time to make investment decisions, better align the interests of investors and issuers and bring greater transparency to private transactions.
The proposed rules would effect three key changes for structured finance offerings:
- significant alterations to the requirements for registration for ABS;
- imposition of enhanced asset-level and other disclosure and reporting requirements with respect to ABS; and
- new disclosure requirements for private offerings of structured finance products that rely on SEC safe harbors.
This summary and analysis provides a general overview of the proposed rules, including commentary that addresses specific issues.
View Sonnenschein's Summary and Analysis of Proposed Revisions to Regulation AB and Rules Governing Structured Finance Products
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
