Emirates NDB has sold an asset-backed securitization (ABS) of UAE auto loans worth 19 billion yen ($221 million), the first such deal from the Middle East and by the bank, the bookrunner, Citi said.

The majority of the notes were rated Aa2(sf) by Moody's Investors Service, and benefited from a guarantee by the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) on the principal, which was another first, said Citi.

'Middle East banks have not had access to the securitization market for this type of asset. Securitization has been mostly used against mortgages and real estate,' said Sami Tabbarah, managing director, Citi.

Tabbarah said that banks in the region have sizeable consumer loan portfolios and selling them via ABS can provide important matched funding, on which regulatory pressure is building.

Securitizations backed by mortgages, once the bedrock of the structured finance market, have declined sharply since the credit crunch but deals backed by auto loans have been relatively robust.

Some 15.2 billion yen of the notes were guaranteed by JBIC and carried a coupon of Yen Libor plus 100 basis points. They have an expected maturity of 4.1 years and were placed with Asian institutional investors.

JBIC invested in the remainder of the transaction. – Reuters