SEC Gives Servicers a Break on ABS Rule

The Securities and Exchange Commission has decided to give servicers a break when it comes to filing "Compliance with Applicable Servicing Criteria" reports at the end of this year under a new asset-backed securities regulation.Max Webb, assistant director of the SEC, said the audited compliance reports don't need to cover ABS transactions issued in 2005 before Regulation AB went into effect. "We are comfortable with servicers' confining the scope of their reviews to only transactions which occurred in the Regulation AB framework," Mr. Webb told a Mortgage Bankers Association conference in Washington. The MBA has asked the SEC to modify the initial reporting period for the compliance reports because there are a lot of issues that need to be resolved and the auditors have not started their reviews and testing. "We are seriously considering that request," Mr. Webb said. But he also said the SEC's decision to limit the scope of the compliance testing "should go a long way toward satisfying" the MBA's request.

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Law and regulation
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