SFA tells SEC: don't let a 1930s rule snag ABS quotes

The Structured Finance Association's May 18 comment letter backs the SEC's plan to refocus broker-quotation requirements under Rule 15c2-11 on equities, but warns the rule's underlying definitions — drafted in the 1930s around business trusts and profit-sharing arrangements — could still sweep in trust certificates and residual interests. SFA's ask: add a fixed-income definition tied to Rule 192(c), hardening the SEC's 2021 no-action relief. Per SFA, securitization funds roughly 60% of U.S. housing and 15% of auto debt. If dealers face equity-style review on every ABS CUSIP, they'll quote less, and holders pay in spread.

A Million Missing Buyers Reshape Auto-ABS Pools

The WSJ argues roughly a million would-be new-car buyers per year are gone and not coming back, squeezed out by sticker prices and financing costs. Our dashboard backs the affordability thesis: light-vehicle sales (SAAR) printed 15.9M, down 7.1% YoY, against real disposable income off 1.1% and consumer sentiment at 49.8. The collateral implication: expect longer terms, higher LTVs, and more used-vehicle pools, with new-car origination concentrating in captives.

Card tape stays orderly; auto benchmarks compress

• Chase ($1.25B) and FNMNT ($500M) both clear AAA at WAL 2.97 — no spread disclosed, but size and tenor say the bid for card AAA is unchanged.
• Nissan 2026-A A-3 prints I+44 at WAL 2.33; Carvana 2026-P2 A-3 lands I+68 at WAL 2.26 — near-identical tenor, 24bp apart.
• That 24bp Carvana-over-Nissan basis is the cleanest live read on where the market is pricing used-heavy, deeper-credit auto collateral against a prime captive benchmark.