Introduction to Securitization, Second Edition

Securitization stands for the massive movement since the 1970s to transform illiquid debt into securities. It is the conversion of third party obligations into tradable securities. When called structured financing, it described securitization by corporate borrowers of their own obligations or their financial assets. Securities and debts have much in common; both are obligations by one party to pay another, and both can be viewed as evidence of money claims. However, debts are less amenable to trading than are securities. Markets, including securities markets, require standard forms and terms rather than custom-made instruments, a sufficient number of instruments in denominations that facilitate trading and relatively low-cost information about the borrowers. Bonds have these attributes. Debts lack these attributes. Parties to debt and securities are even described by different words.

Securitization has grown enormously. By the end of 1989, approximately $900 billion in mortgage-backed securities were outstanding. By the end of 1991 the amount grew to approximately $4 trillion. In 1996, publicly-registered issues of asset-backed securities yielded $156 billion, up 41% from 1995s $110 billion. The variety of securitized loans is enormous: commercial real estate loans, single-family mortgages, debts of bankrupt companies, auto and light truck loans, credit card loans and other receivables (including health care and pharmaceutical receivables, license and franchise fee receivables, airline ticket, hotel and other travel receivables, tax receivables) and trade credits, equipment and automobile leases, taxi-cab medallions, computer leases, municipal leases, bad debts resulting from defaults by credit card debtors and junk bond issuers, student loans, cosmetic surgery receivables, servicing rights, tax liens, loans made and held by the federal Government, royalties generated by performing celebrities, natural resource assets, mutual fund shares, athletic venue revenues, state indebtedness to finance easement acquisition, software financing obligations and insurance premium loans.

Securitization involves instruments, transactions, institutions, and markets. There are many legal problems that this process raises, touching almost all branches of the law. The legal problems rise from the three innovations presented by securitization. (1) The legal metamorphosis of instruments from loans (contracts) to securities (personal property); (2) The creation of additional intermediaries: the SPVs that issue asset-backed securities. (3) The process, which combines institutional with market intermediation.

Like it or not, definitions and classifications are crucial to legal coherence. Classifications are necessary to organize the vast legal material. The human mind is incapable of retaining a large amount of detailed information. Also, classifications are important for legal analysis by pointing to the book of rules. Choosing one definition or class rather than another can lead to different legal outcomes. In addition, classifications provide predictability, important in business law. The important questions are: under what circumstances should we reclassify and redefine, and which institution should perform the task?

Securitization requires a reclassification from contract (loans) to property (securities). Contract, property, and markets are the building blocks of an economic and business order. It is assumed that property and contract laws are compatible. But a closer examination of current law shows that they are not compatible today. If it is desirable to create markets, important contract law policies must give way to conflicting policies underlying property law.

Contract and property categories are shaped by different policies. Subject to exceptions: (1) The underlying policy in contract law is that personal relations should be fostered. The starting point is that contractual relationships are personal and not transferable without the consent of the other party. (2) The parties are essentially free to design their relationships as they wish and may keep their contract relationship confidential.

Today, property law is based on the policy of facilitating market transactions. Therefore, (1) property should be transferable and the parties cannot usually limit the transfer of property (with exceptions). (2) Transfers of some kinds of property, such as real estate, should be made a matter of public record. (3) Parties may not create different property rights (to avoid confusion). To the extent possible, buyers should know what they are buying.

Policies underlying contract and property show sharp conflicts. If property must be transferable, interpersonal relationships cannot always be preserved. If the transfer must be publicized, and the form of transfer and the contents of transferable rights are standardized, the freedom of the parties to design the terms of their arrangement is curtailed. This conflict does not mean that these classifications are mutually exclusive.  Property and contract law overlap: parties contract for the sale or lease of property. However, when contract and property overlap and their underlying policies conflict, one classification must have priority over the other.

In some respects, securitization is not unique. America is constantly “propertizing” contractual arrangements and creating markets for them. Therefore we ought to prepare for transitions from contract to property at the lowest cost and friction. This task should not be left to the courts: legislators, regulators, codifiers of uniform laws must step in; lawyers, law teachers and scholars can also lend a hand.

An edited version of the introduction.
(Ann Taylor Schwing, ed.) (2 ed. 2006).
(footnotes omitted)

Securitization, Second Edition, is also available in Chinese.

Securitization, Second Edition
Summary Table of Contents

Part I
Overview of Securitization

Chapter 1
Overview of Securitization

§1.1 A. What is Securitization?

§1.4 B. The Legal Infrastructure for Securitization

Chapter 2
History and Future of Securitization

§2.1 A. Is Securitization Here to Stay?

§2.3 B. Securitization by Pooling

§2.4 C. The Pooling Process

§2.9 D. Markets for Loans and Securitized Loans and the Future

Chapter 3
Effect of Securitization on the Economy and the Financial System

§3.1 A. Markets and Institutions

§3.6 B. “Crowding Out”

§3.10 C. Does Securitization Contribute to Debt and Risk in The Economy?

§3.13 D. Effect of Securitization on Monetary Controls

Chapter 4
Effect of Securitization on Financial Intermediaries

§4.1 A. Effect On Banks’ Financial Structure: Old Problem Revisited

§4.6 B. Effect on Competition in the Banking Business

§4.9 C. Effect on Risk in the Banking Business

§4.10 D. New Business for Banks

§4.14 E. Legal Limitations on Bank Entry into the Securities Business

§4.15 F. Organizational and Cultural Changes

§4.19 G. Effect on Nonbank Intermediaries

Chapter 5
Effect of Securitization on Borrowers and Investors

§5.1 A. Effect of Securitization on Borrowers

§5.6 B. Effect of Securitization on Investors

§5.9 C. Concluding Comments to Part I

PART II
Securitization by Pooling

Chapter 6
Introduction to SPVs

Chapter 7
Making, Selling and Pooling Loans

§7.1 A. Lenders and Borrowers

§7.2 B. Bank Powers to Securitize Loans

§7.12 C. Powers of Thrifts and Finance Companies

§7.13 D. Standards in The Making of Loans

§7.14 E. The Transaction: Transfer of Loans

§7.17 F. Regulation of the Process of Sale and Purchase

Chapter 8
The Financial Structure of SPVs

§8.1 A. SPV Securities: Pass-Throughs, Bonds, and Pay-Throughs

§8.8 B. Classification of SPV Securities as Debt or Equity

§8.10 C. Tax Law

§8.19 D. Effects of Other Laws on SPV Financial Structure

Chapter 9
Credit Enhancement

§9.1 A. Types of Credit Enhancement

§9.8 B. Appraisals

Chapter 10
Protecting SPVs from Bankruptcy

§10.1 A. Effects of Bankruptcy

§10.6 B. Insolvency of the Transferor of the Loans

§10.11 C. Reducing Business Risks: Special Purpose Entities

§10.12 D. Insolvency of the Borrower

§10.16 E. Insolvency of a Transferor that is Not Subject to the Bankruptcy Code

Chapter 11
Regulation of SPVs Under the Investment Company Act of 1940

§11.1 A. The Investment Company Act of 1940

§11.4 B. Are SPVs Investment Companies Under the 1940 Act?

§11.7 C. Exceptions from the Definition of an Investment Company

§11.19 D. SEC Exemption under Section 2(b): Government Agencies

§11.23 E. Section 6(c) Exemptions to Private Sector Sponsors

§11.32 F. Effect of SPV Exemptions by the SEC

Chapter 12
Issuance and Distribution of SPV Securities

§12.1 A. SPV Securities

§12.3 B. Registration Requirement under the 1933 Act

§12.10 C. Exemptions from Registration under the 1933 Act

§12.20 D. Shelf Registration Under the 1933 Act

§12.24 E. State Securities (Blue Sky) Laws

§12.25 F. Violations of the 1933 Act Relating to Securitization

§12.26 G. Trust Indenture Act of the 1939 (“TIA”)

Chapter 13
Regulation of the Secondary Markets in SPV Securities

§13.1 A. The Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (The “1934 Act”)

§13.7 B. Investment Advisers Act of 1940

Chapter 14

Operating the SPVs

§14.1 A. SPV Operations

§14.2 B. The Custodian

§14.7 C. The Servicer

§14:11 D. The Sponsor

Part III
Loan Participations

Chapter 15
Introduction to Loan Participation

Chapter 16
The LP Agreement: Disclosure

§16.1 A. Contract and Tort Duties in LP Relationships

§16.3 B. Disclosure Requirements under Bank Regulation

§16.9 C. Waivers of the Right to Information

§16.12 D. The Borrower’s Right to Confidentiality

Chapter 17
Applicability of the Securities Acts to LPs

§17.1 A. The 1933 and 1934 Acts

§17.3 The Definition of a Security in the 1933 and 1934 Acts—History

§17.6 B. The Investment Company Act of 1940 (The “1940 Act”)

§17.7 C. The Investment Advisers Act of 1940 (The “Advisers Act”)

§17.8 D. The Trust Indenture Act of 1939 (“TIA”)

Chapter 18
Relationships Among the Lead Bank and the Participants

§18.1 A. Terms of the LP Agreement: Requirements and Constraints

§18.3 B. Duties of Lead Banks to the Participants

§18.8 C. Duties of the Participants

§18.12 D. Remedies

Chapter 19
Rights of the Participants in the Participation

§19.1 A. Law Applicable to the Status of LPS

§19.3 B. The Basic Categories of LPs

§19.5 C. Purchase and Sale

§19.12.1 D. The Ongoing Relationship Between LP Holders and the Lead

§19.16 E. LPs as Loans to the Lead Bank

Chapter 20
Effect of Bankruptcy on LPs

§20.1 A. The Lead’s Insolvency When Government Agencies are the Receivers

§20.5 B. Setoffs

§20.15 C. Bankruptcy of the Borrower

Chapter 21
Rights of the Borrower Againat the Lead Bank and LP Holders

§21.1 A. Right of the Borrower to Confidentiality

§21.4 B. Rights of the Borrower Against the Lead Bank and LP Holders

§21.6 C. Setoffs

§21.9 D. Tax Implications

Chapter 22
Drafting the LP and Loan Agreements: Issues for the Drafting Attorney

§22.1 A. The LP Agreement

§22.7 B. The Participated Loan Agreement

Chapter 23
International Aspects of Securitization

Tables and Index

Table of Cases

Table of United States Code Sections

Table of Code of Regulations Sections

Table of Uniform Commercial Code Sections

Table of State Statutes

Index

Securitization, Second Edition, Second Printing

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ISBN 978-1-888215-59-5, LC 2006920185
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