MARQ runs at RMBS hurdles
Issuers of covered bonds and mortgage-backed securities are being asked to pay the costs of a new analytical service that its promoters contend is needed to tackle the scepticism towards this asset class among offshore investors.Perpetual Corporate Trust and Oliver Wyman have backed the service developed by Morgij Analytics, a firm founded by former Barclays Capital and Allco executive Graham Andersen.The new service, dubbed MARQ Services, aims to collate much more detailed - and much more comparable - information on home loan pools supporting RMBS bonds than is presently available (mainly from Perpetual). MARQ will present this data in a more accessible way.The aim is to persuade, if not cajole, issuers to contribute this data to MARQ on the grounds that better data will make mortgage bonds - including covered bonds - easier to sell. MARQ's backers have recruited an advisory board that includes former ASX chair Maurice Newman and former Commonwealth Bank CEO David Murray as members.The task of this pair may be more about sales rather than advice, given the target market comprises only a dozen or so issuers.