The issuer or underwriter of an offering of any asset-backed security (as that term is defined in Section 3(a)(79) of the Act (15 U.S.C. 78c(a)(79))) that is to be rated by a nationally recognized statistical rating organization must furnish Form ABS-15G (§ 249.1400 of this chapter) to the Commission containing the findings and conclusions of any third-party due diligence report obtained by the issuer or underwriter at least five business days prior to the first sale in the offering.

Instruction to paragraph (a): Disclosure of the findings and conclusions includes, but is not limited to, disclosure of the criteria against which the loans were evaluated, and how the evaluated loans compared to those criteria along with the basis for including any loans not meeting those criteria. This disclosure is only required for an initial rating and does not need to be furnished in connection with any subsequent rating actions. For purposes of this rule, the date of first sale is the date on which the first investor is irrevocably contractually committed to invest, which, depending on the terms and conditions of the contract, could be the date on which the issuer receives the investor's subscription agreement or check.

In the case where the issuer and one or more underwriters have obtained the same third-party due diligence report related to a particular asset-backed securities transaction, if any one such party has furnished all the disclosures required in order to meet the obligations under paragraph (a) of this section, the other party or parties are not required to separately furnish the same disclosures related to such third-party due diligence report.

If the disclosure required by this rule has been made in the prospectus (including an attribution to the third-party that provided the third-party due diligence report), the issuer or underwriter may refer to that section of the prospectus in Form ABS-15G rather than providing the findings and conclusions itself directly in Form ABS-15G.

For purposes of paragraphs (a) and (b) of this section, issuer is defined in Rule 17g-10(d)(2) (§ 240.17g-10(d)(2) of this chapter) and third-party due diligence report means any report containing findings and conclusions of any due diligence services as defined in Rule 17g-10(d)(1) (§ 240.17g-10(d)(1) of this chapter) performed by a third party.

The requirements of this rule would not apply to an offering of an asset-backed security if certain conditions are met, including:

The offering is not required to be, and is not, registered under the Securities Act of 1933;

The issuer of the rated security is not a U.S. person (as defined under Securities Act Rule 902(k)); and

the security issued by the issuer will be offered and sold upon issuance, and any underwriter or arranger linked to the security will effect transactions of the security after issuance, only in transactions that occur outside the United States.

The requirements of this rule would not apply to an offering of an asset-backed security if certain conditions are met, including:

The issuer of the rated security is a municipal issuer; and

The offering is not required to be, and is not, registered under the Securities Act of 1933.

For purposes of paragraph (f) of this section, a municipal issuer is an issuer (as that term is defined in Rule 17g-10(d)(2) (§ 240.17g-10(d)(2) of this chapter)) that is any State or Territory of the United States, the District of Columbia, any political subdivision of any State, Territory or the District of Columbia, or any public instrumentality of one or more States, Territories or the District of Columbia.

An offering of an asset-backed security that is exempted from the requirements of this rule pursuant to paragraph (f) of this section remains subject to the requirements of Section 15E(s)(4)(A) of the Act (15 U.S.C. 78o-7(s)(4)(A)), which requires that the issuer or underwriter of any asset-backed security shall make publicly available the findings and conclusions of any third-party due diligence report obtained by the issuer or underwriter.