SecondMarket to Launch Student-Loan Securities Platform
SecondMarket Holdings Inc., a New York-based online-trading firm specializing in private-market securities, on Monday will roll out a platform allowing lenders to issue securities backed by student loans directly to investors.
The move is driven mainly by investors’ growing appetite for student loans, said Barry Silbert, founder and chief executive of SecondMarket.
“The catalyst for this new suite of services is investor demand,” said Mr. Silbert. “At the end of the day, investors are yield searching.”
Investors registered through SecondMarket already can trade student-loan securities they hold in their portfolios, said Mr. Silbert. Since 2008, about $6 billion worth has traded on the exchange, he said.
The new platform will allow lenders to issue securities directly to SecondMarket’s base of more than 100,000 investors, including institutions and affluent individuals who qualify as so-called accredited investors by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
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