ABS shelf issuers are required to have an effective shelf registration statement that complies with the requirements of Regulation AB II, with the exception of the asset-level data requirements, by November 23, 2015. The Division of Corporation Finance has announced a pilot program for ABS issuers that wish to have their shelf registration statements reviewed by the staff, in draft form, before filing. The SEC’s staff will select at least two issuers per asset class on a first-come, first-served basis, with requests accepted no earlier than October 20, 2014 at 9:00 am EDT and no later than 5:30 pm EDT on October 24, 2014. The staff expects that the deadline for submitting a draft registration statement in the pilot program will be in February 2015. To assist other ABS issuers in preparing their new registration statements, the SEC intends to make all draft registration statements and related staff comment letters from the pilot program generally available before the compliance date. The staff also encourages ABS issuers that do not participate in the pilot program to file their registration statements early enough to provide adequate time for completion of the staff review process before the compliance date.
The SEC’s announcement is available on the SEC.gov website.