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By Adam Tempkin and Charles Williams
NEW YORK, March 8 (IFR) - Barclays is the top bookrunner ofUS ABS transactions year-to-date, according to IFR Markets andThomson Reuters data.
The British bank sold more than US$6.8bn in ABS sofar in 2013, giving them 17.9% market share via 17 issues. Theunderwriter has held steady in a top-three ABS spot for the lastthree years.
RBC Capital Markets is the No. 2 bookrunneryear-to-date, with US$6.05bn in ABS sold. With a 15.9% marketshare, the Canadian bank has been a bookrunner on 18 issues.
RBC has risen quickly in the league table rankings over thelast year, distinguishing itself by grabbing key mandates in theconsumer ABS asset class.
JP Morgan, which had previously held the top spot,fell to the No. 3 ABS bookrunner spot year-to-date. The banksold US$5.89bn in deals so far this year, giving them a 15.5%market share via 14 asset-backed issues.
Excluding so-called self-funded transactions, which banksfund off their own shelves, Barclays and RBC still remain No. 1and 2, but Bank of America Merrill Lynch moves up to theNo. 3 ABS bookrunner spot.
Without the self-funded offerings, RBC's year-to-datetransactions drop down to US$5.55bn. Bank of America has soldUS$4.5bn in the year to date for the No. 3 spot.
Year-to-date ABS issuance is eclipsing last year's volumefor the same time period, according to IFR Markets and ThomsonReuters data.
There was US$15.2bn issued in January, compared to US$12.5bnin January 2012; and US$18.9bn issued in February compared toUS$16.4bn in February 2012. So far, more than US$4bn in ABS hasbeen issued in March.
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