Asset-backed securites reform tops the agenda for CMSA.

Commercial Mortgage Securities Association (CMSA), the international trade organization representing the commercial mortgage backed securities industry, submitted a to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in response to their proposed rules on Asset-Backed Securities (ABS) reform.

The SEC proposed rules and reforms address the registration, disclosure and reporting requirements for ABS. If adopted as written, these rules could have certain presumably unintended results for participants in the CMBS market. CMSA's primary concerns, as articulated in the submitted comment letter, include the transition periods for complying with the disclosure and reporting requirements, the application of the new rules to already existing transactions and shelf eligibility requirements.

"We are concerned that the reporting responsibilities contemplated by the SEC's proposed rules do not take into account the varied roles of the numerous parties in a CMBS transaction. We look forward to working with the SEC on the concerns raised in CMSA's comment letter," stated Tricia Hall, Senior Vice President, Lehman Brothers, Inc and Vice Chair of CMSA's Regulatory Committee.

To further highlight the potential impact, CMSA President and Partner, Dechert LLP, Richard Jones, stated, "The rules proposed by the SEC do not reflect the recognized practices that CMBS participants have developed over the years to provide investors with focused and useful disclosure and reporting specifically tailored for the investors' needs."

In response to the SEC's request for comments on its proposed rules CMSA had a working group of interested CMSA members from various sectors of the CMBS industry analyze the effects of the proposed rules and formulate its comment letter. The group was chaired by Tricia Hall and included other CMSA members who are issuers, servicers and trustees--with investor input.

The Commercial Mortgage Securities Association (CMSA) is an international trade organization dedicated to improving liquidity of commercial real estate debt securities through access to the capital markets.

Headquartered in New York City, CMSA has chapters in Europe, Japan and Canada, and has expanded to more than 300 member firms since it was founded in 1994. Its members include commercial banks, investment banks, insurance companies, money managers, specialty finance companies, pension funds, loan servicers and rating agencies. CMSA also publishes CMBS World, the only magazine solely dedicated to CMBS. For more information on CMSA, visit.