The great regulatory war over European securitization could soon be coming to an end following the European Commission's launch of its consultation last week. Naturally, the Another Fine Mezz team were very excited to summarise the reaction so far, not least for host, Tom Lemmon.

European ABS reporter, George Smith was also on hand to discuss what could happen, with many market bigwigs hopeful that this could be the beginning of the end of securitization's regulatory purgatory.

At first look, everything is on the table. And with 167 questions to answer, that should be ample time to discuss whatever it is respondents want to change.

There are also some hints that high-quality securitizations could be treated more favourably under the liquidity coverage ratio. However, the CLO market may find itself under greater scrutiny over whether it should be treated as a private transaction.

Back in the market, issuance has slowed to a steadier pace but the sterling market looks to be heating up, while there are also deals from Santander Germany and Mercedes.

And finally, some trivia reveals that the Another Fine Mezz team should stop asking for whom the bell tolls.

This week on Another Fine Mezz, host Tom Lemmon sat down with KBRA's head of European research, Gordon Kerr as part of a sponsored episode looking ahead to KBRA's structured finance symposium.

Kerr spoke about the brilliant, record-breaking year for the European securitization market and the hope that this could be just the start with optimism building that transformative reforms for the sector are on the way.

He also gave a sneak peak of what to expect at KBRA European Structured Finance Symposium, which takes place on October 17 in London. There's plenty to look forward to with speakers from the likes of Barclays, Bank of America, Citi, Blackstone and 400 Capital.

Finally, Kerr reflected on his career that began in the late 1990's, and in particular, how he manages to look so cool even when the heat is on.

With the summer holidays of the Another Fine Mezz team well and truly over, it was back to normal this week. Similarly, the European securitization market has eased into October with deal flow slowing to a much more manageable pace.

WiZink bank completed a successful return to the market after a troubling debut in 2023 for its Portuguese credit card ABS. However, host Tom Lemmon argued that despite a much smoother ride this time around, the trade revealed familiar problems in European ABS. Despite a record year of issuance, the investor base is still far too small and doing the credit work takes far too long.

Meanwhile in the UK, Tandem Bank's debut RMBS caught the attention of European ABS reporter, George Smith. It was a roaring success but the question is whether it's a further sign that UK challenger banks will start using the securitization market to help with capital management with trades not dissimilar to the large banks' significant risk transfer deals of recent years.

Finally, Tom's wine-tasting trips are bearing fruit as he explained how new businesses that aim to make it easier to invest in assets like wine, art or fancy cars are looking to use securitization technology and asset-backed lending to help them scale.