Two years ago, the Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation began to quietly build up its US-based ABS team.
Propelled by an expansionist economy in Japan, the banking giant bet that its history as a balance-sheet lender would facilitate the development of its US capital markets business, which it first established in 2013.
Now, its strategy shows signs of paying off.
Under Christine Ferris, hired in January 2025 as head of securitized products, SMBC has taken the lead on 10 structuring deals, up from three in 2024, the year it began its ABS ramp up by hiring Brandon Grant as flow ABS managing director and Joseph Servi as managing director for esoterics. Most recently, Lendmark Trust 2026-1, which priced last week, was upsized to $350m from an initial $300m and priced tight of guidance despite heightened consumer stress, as 9fin reported.
The bank hopes to top its active bookrunning activity volume from 2025, which was a banner year in the US ABS market for the institution. As of 27 April, SMBC had taken an active role in 17 securitizations accounting for $18bn of volume. Last year, the bank was active on 46 deals accounting for $41bn of volume.
Last year,...
