Huntington to Return to ABS Market in 2015

Steve Steinour, chairman, president, and chief executive at Huntington Bancshares announced, during the 3Q earnings call on Friday, that the bank will most likely offer auto securitization in the coming year.

Huntington departed the auto ABS space in 2013, citing declining gains.

“Within auto, we are continuing to monitor the securitization markets and we’ll look to use it as a tool to manage our overall concentration,” said Steinour. “It’s unlikely we will be in the market during the fourth quarter, but we do expect two securitizations in 2015.”

Huntington’s average auto loans were at $8.0 billion at the end of third quarter, up $1.9 billion from the same time last year, or 32% year over year.

Huntington’s chief credit officer, Dan Neumeyer, said on the call that its portfolio was made up primarily of prime and super prime paper, and did not plan to originate subprime. Huntington was pleased with the segment of the market the bank is competing in, he said.