Structured finance market round-up: A bulging RMBS pipeline

It is a good job that investors don’t seem to be able to get enough of UK prime RMBS as the pipeline of such paper stood at more than £9 billion ($16.7 billion) towards the end of May. The new RMBS issuers poised to launch into this market (revealed in Euromoney’s April issue) were flexing their muscles mid-month, with Lloyds TSB confirming its RMBS programme and RBS first out of the gate with its £4.7 billion Arran Residential Mortgages Funding. The bank has decided not to set up a master trust but will have securitized £9.2 billion of UK mortgage risk via just two transactions in roughly six months when the deal closes. Arran Residential Mortgages, which accounts for half of the pipeline on its own, should get a rapturous reception, given how buyers responded to Standard Life’s latest Lothian issue, which achieved record tights for the sector with dollar-denominated triple-A paper placed at eight basis points over Libor. Later in the month Granite Mortgages saw triple-B risk sold at an eyewatering 47bp over Libor, which could go a long way to explaining the recent intense issuer interest in this sector.