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# Very interesting change to Australia's securitisation market structure
- URL: https://www.benchmarkanalytics.com.au/very-interesting-change-to-australias-securitisation-market-structure/
- Published: 2026-09-03T04:43:43.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-03T04:43:43.000Z
- Author: Nick Hossack

**Securitisation** is the process of pooling loans — such as mortgages, car loans or business loans — inside a special purpose vehicle, which then issues **asset-backed securities** to investors. The repayments on the underlying loans ultimately support the interest and principal paid to those investors. Residential mortgage-backed securities, or **RMBS**, are the best-known Australian example.

Securitisation matters because it provides an alternative to funding lending through bank deposits. It is particularly important for non-bank lenders, which cannot collect deposits and therefore rely heavily on wholesale funding.

Australia had a large securitisation market before the Global Financial Crisis. In June 2007 securitisers held $272 billion of assets. But the crisis severely damaged global confidence in securitisation. Offshore structured investment vehicles, which had been major buyers of Australian RMBS, collapsed or sold assets. Australian mortgages generally continued performing, but funding markets nevertheless seized up and issuance collapsed.

COVID-19 produced a very different experience. Government support helped stabilise securitisation markets, while the Reserve Bank’s Term Funding Facility reduced bank bond issuance. Investors searching for substitutes increasingly bought RMBS, helping spreads fall to their lowest levels since before the GFC.

The market has since strengthened further. June 2026 ABS data show securitiser assets reaching **$239.4 billion**, while long-term asset-backed securities issued in Australia reached **$214.7 billion**.

**The structural change is striking.** In June 2007, **$100.0 billion** of securities had been issued overseas. Today it is just **$1.6 billion**.

**But foreign investors have not disappeared.** Securities can be issued in Australia and purchased by offshore funds: the RBA estimated that around half of RMBS orders during the first three quarters of 2024 came from offshore accounts.

Australia has therefore not simply rebuilt its old securitisation market. It has developed a much deeper **onshore capital market with an international investor base**.

Australian securitisation has moved onshore 

Share of Australian asset-backed securities issuance 

**Key structural change:** in 2007, almost half of Australian asset-backed securities were issued overseas. By 2026, issuance had become almost entirely domestic. 

| June 2007 | Total ABS issuance: **$221.6b** |
| --------- | ------------------------------- |

| Australia 54.9% | Overseas 45.1% |
| --------------- | -------------- |

| **$121.6b**Issued in Australia | **$100.0b**Issued overseas |
| ------------------------------ | -------------------------- |

19-year shift: offshore issuance share fell from 45.1% to 0.7% 

| June 2026 | Total ABS issuance: **$216.3b** |
| --------- | ------------------------------- |

| Australia 99.3% |  |
| --------------- |  |

| **$214.7b**Issued in Australia | **$1.6b**Issued overseas |
| ------------------------------ | ------------------------ |

| Issued in Australia 54.9% → 99.3% |  | Issued overseas 45.1% → 0.7% |  | Domestic issuance stock $121.6b → $214.7b |
| --------------------------------- |  | ---------------------------- |  | ----------------------------------------- |

**Important:** this chart shows *where securities are issued*, not who owns them. Offshore investors can still buy securities issued in Australia. The RBA estimated that around half of RMBS orders during the first three quarters of 2024 came from offshore accounts. 

Note: shares are calculated as a proportion of total asset-backed securities issuance (long-term ABS issued in Australia plus ABS issued overseas), rather than total liabilities, to show the structural funding-location shift more clearly.  
  
Source: ABS, *Assets and Liabilities of Australian Securitisers*, June 2026; Reserve Bank of Australia.