Ford Motor Co. has vaulted past Citigroup Inc. to become the top issuer of asset-backed securities this year, illustrating how auto companies have come to rule the market where consumer debt is bundled into bonds and sold to investors.
Ford has sold more than $8 billion in the asset-backed market so far this year, Royal Bank of Scotland said. Last year, the automaker was only the fourth-largest ABS issuer.
Another auto-related issuer, Ally Financial Corp.'s Ally Bank, the former General Motors Acceptance Corp., is No. 2 this year, with $5.5 billion in asset-backed bonds. Citigroup is not even in the top 10 this year.
About 60% of all consumer loan-backed bonds sold so far this year — about $80 billion worth — are in the auto sector, according to data from Citigroup.
Ally Bank, Bank of America Corp. and SLM Corp., the student lender better known as Sallie Mae, are the other top issuers in the ABS market this year.
