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Market Intelligence

Participant directory

Participant directory

Finding the right counterparties is half the battle in ABF. The structured finance ecosystem has hundreds of active participants across categories, each specializing by asset class, deal size, and role. This guide helps you understand who does what and how to find them.

How the ecosystem breaks down

The ABF market participants fall into four main categories:

Capital providers supply the funding that makes transactions work. They include warehouse banks that provide revolving facilities, credit funds that deploy private capital, insurance platforms that buy rated tranches, and back leverage providers that finance fund positions.

Service providers handle the operational mechanics of transactions. Trustees administer deals and execute waterfall payments. Servicers collect payments and manage delinquencies. Rating agencies assign creditworthiness assessments. Accountants and administrators handle fund-level operations.

Legal and advisory firms structure transactions and provide strategic guidance. Law firms draft documents and negotiate terms. Underwriters distribute securities. Advisors help source capital and evaluate options.

Industry infrastructure supports the ecosystem. Associations provide networking and advocacy. Conferences create relationship opportunities. Data providers supply the analytics infrastructure.

Finding the right counterparties

Your counterparty needs depend on your transaction type and role:

If you’re an originator seeking warehouse financing:

If you’re a capital provider building deal flow:

  • Start with industry infrastructure to understand conferences and data sources
  • Then build relationships with originators through association directories

If you’re executing a term ABS deal:

  • You’ll need participants from every category: underwriters, rating agencies, trustees, servicers, and counsel
  • Review each subtopic for selection guidance

Subtopics

Finding capital providers

Warehouse banks, credit funds, insurance platforms, and back leverage providers. Who they are, what they focus on, and how to approach them.

Finding service providers

Trustees, servicers by asset class, rating agencies, and backup servicers. Critical evaluation criteria for each category.

Issuer counsel, lender counsel, underwriters, placement agents, and strategic advisors. How to select and manage these relationships.

Industry infrastructure

Industry associations, conferences worth attending, and data and analytics providers. Building your network and market intelligence capabilities.

Building your network

If you’re new to ABF, here’s the fastest path to building your counterparty network:

1. Join an association. SFIG membership ($1,500-$5,000/year depending on firm size) gets you directory access and conference discounts. This is the fastest path to a broad contact list.

2. Attend one major conference. ABS East (September, Miami) or SFIG Vegas (February). Focus on meetings, not sessions. Request meetings in advance through the conference platform.

3. Leverage existing relationships. Your current counsel, accountant, or banker likely knows ABF counterparties. Ask for introductions.

4. Track public deals. New issue databases show who’s active in your asset class. If a bank just priced an auto ABS deal, they’re in the market.

5. Start with one counterparty per category. You don’t need five trustees. Get one good relationship in each category, then expand as deal flow warrants.

External directories and resources

These external resources are more comprehensive and more current than any static list:

Member directories

Rating agency databases

  • S&P Global Ratings: Issuer and transaction databases searchable by asset class
  • Moody’s Structured Finance Portal: Research and issuer coverage
  • Fitch Ratings: Transaction summaries and surveillance
  • KBRA: Issuer coverage lists and research

Public deal databases

  • EDGAR (SEC): ABS-EE filings with loan-level data for registered deals
  • TRACE: Secondary trading data for price discovery
  • Bloomberg NI ABS: New issue database with deal terms and participants

Other discovery methods

  • LinkedIn: Search “[asset class] + structured finance + [city]” to find relevant professionals
  • Conference attendee lists: Often available to registrants post-event
  • Dealer research: Underwriters publish market commentary naming active participants
  • Public filings: 10-K/10-Q filings often name facility providers and counterparties

Cross-references

For detailed counterparty evaluation:

For capital source guidance:

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