Table of Contents
Market Moving News Recap
Japan: election-driven volatility is back in focus. Ahead of the 8 February vote, strategists were already flagging renewed upside pressure on JGB yields and FX volatility if a strong mandate translated into larger fiscal ambitions. However, Japan’s stock markets surged after Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s Liberal Democratic Party won a decisive victory in the recent general election — securing a two-thirds majority in the lower house, a level of dominance not seen since the post-war era. The result is seen as strengthening her mandate to pursue economic reforms including tax cuts and stimulus measures, which boosted investor confidence. However, the new government faces challenges such as high public debt, rising living costs, and demographic pressures even as markets react positively to the political clarity.
China: tighter oversight of offshore tokenised ABS. On 6 February, China’s securities regulator moved to tighten oversight of offshore tokenised ABS tied to onshore assets, requiring filings and documentation around offshore offering materials and token structures—an important signal for cross-border structured issuance and “RWA/tokenisation” narratives.
Australia: RMBS pipeline remained active through presale season. Multiple Australian RMBS shelves and non-bank issuers continued to progress through presale / expected rating stages (details in “Recent Issuance & Ratings Actions” below), keeping APAC securitisation calendars busy even amid macro noise.
Market Commentary
APAC credit felt macro-first this week, with Japan doing most of the heavy lifting. Even where spread direction remained relatively contained, the market’s focus stayed on all-in yield, duration risk, and the cross-asset knock-on from sovereign curves—especially given Japan’s role as a global marginal buyer and as an anchor for regional rate expectations.
The practical implication for structured finance desks: execution windows still exist, but investor conversations are more explicitly about (i) where base rates settle, (ii) whether sovereign volatility bleeds into spread decompression, and (iii) how structures behave under higher-for-longer assumptions.
Recent Issuance & Ratings Actions
Australia RMBS – presale / expected ratings momentum
- Olympus 2026-1 Trust (Australia RMBS) — Fitch expected ratings published (presale). (Fitch Ratings)
- ORDE Series 2026-1 Trust (Australia RMBS) — Fitch expected ratings published (presale). (Fitch Ratings)
- AFG 2026-1 Trust – Series 2026-1 (Australia RMBS) — Fitch expected ratings published (presale). (Fitch Ratings)
- Mortgage House RMBS Osmium Series 2026-1 (Australia RMBS)
- Liberty Series 2026-1 Trust (Australia RMBS)
Moody’s APAC ABS / Structured Finance – selected rating actions
- Plenti Auto ABS Trust 2023-1 — Moody’s upgrades (9 Feb).
- Auto Loan ABS Program 2602 Series — Moody’s assigns provisional rating (4 Feb).
- NOW Trust 2024-1 / NOW Trust 2025-1 — Moody’s upgrades/affirms (3 Feb). (Moody's)
- Plenti PL & Green ABS Trust 2024-1 / 2024-2 — Moody’s upgrades (2 Feb). (Moody's)
Regulatory & Market Infrastructure
Australia (ASIC): licensing relief extension consultation live. ASIC’s CS 43 consultation proposes extending the relief instrument that exempts securitisation SPVs from holding an AFS licence in specified circumstances; comments close 20 February 2026, with the current instrument expiring 1 April 2026. (ASIC)
New resource: Chambers Securitisation 2026 – New Zealand chapter launched. The Chambers Practice Guide provides a fresh, practical snapshot of New Zealand securitisation law and market practice for 2026—useful as a quick-reference for cross-border structuring, true sale / security mechanics, insolvency and enforcement considerations, and typical documentation architecture. (Chambers Practice Guides)
(Also worth noting: NZ counsel have begun publishing companion summaries highlighting the launch of the 2026 securitisation guide for NZ readers.) (russellmcveagh.com)
Outlook: Week of 9 February 2026
Japan elections → policy clarity, but not necessarily calmer bonds. Over the weekend, PM Sanae Takaichi’s decisive election result reset the near-term political backdrop. Markets initially cheered on equities, but rates and FX remained sensitive to how stimulus/tax measures are funded and what that implies for issuance, BOJ reaction function, and term premium. (Reuters)
What to watch in spreads:
- If Japan’s curve reprices on fiscal expectations, global duration and swap spreads can reprice quickly—even without a “credit event.”
- In structured products, the market tends to stay open, but new issue concessions and investor selectivity can increase if rates volatility persists.
Structured finance calendar: Australia remains the most visibly active public pipeline in APAC right now (RMBS presales), while China’s tokenised ABS oversight shift is a near-term theme to watch for anyone involved in cross-border “RWA” structuring.
