A new chief lobbyist for the Australian Securitisation Forum (ASF) has called for greater government support of securitisation in order to maintain a competitive mortgage market.
“The importance of securitisation cannot be overstated. The banking system needs alternatives to provide liquidity for funding to the markets,” Chris Dalton, former boss of Standard & Poor’s and incoming CEO of the ASF told The Australian Financial Review.
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Mr Dalton’s appointment to the helm of the ASF comes as the Australian Office of Financial Management’s (AOFM) initiative to foster securitisation approaches its end and the outlook for securitisation remains uncertain.
The AOFM investment in securitisation has seen close to $5 billion invested in domestic RMBS issuances providing a boost to non-bank lenders such as Resimac, Challenger, FirstMac and Liberty Financial.
Despite the scheme the major banks still dominate the market with their share now exceeding 90 per cent.
“I’d like to see more sustained evidence of credit markets opening up for securitised issuers and ongoing support to enable the sector to hold its ground,” Mr Dalton said.
“Securitisation provides security in terms of funding for issuers and allows people to compete with the banks in terms of product, interest rates and service.”