WASHINGTON - The Securities and Exchange Commission plans to vote on two sets of rules for asset-backed securities Thursday morning, including one that would apply to certain municipal securities.
That rule would require municipal issuers of ABS to disclose in quarterly filings the repurchase history for all outstanding ABS “if the underlying transaction agreements include a covenant to repurchase or replace a pool asset,” according to an SEC fact sheet.
The issuers also would have to disclose a history of all “fulfilled and unfulfilled repurchase requests, including investor demands upon a trustee and pending requests.”
Though the disclosure requirements would apply to issuers of unregistered ABS, including certain municipal securities, the SEC would give muni issuers a three-year phase-in period. Also, muni issuers would be able to send their quarterly information to the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board’s Electronic Municipal Market Access, or EMMA site.
It is not yet clear how many muni securities, such as student loan or housing bonds, the proposed rule would impact.
A second set of rules the commission is expected to vote on, requiring ABS issuers to conduct a review of the assets underlying their securities, would only apply to registered securities and therefore not munis.
