Non-bank lender’s 15th SME-backed transaction upsized due to strong demand
Non-bank lender Liberty has priced a $1 billion securitisation to support its SME lending activities, marking its 15th SME-backed issue since it began tapping this part of the market.
The Liberty Series 2026-1 SME Trust was priced on 3 September and is due to settle on 10 September, lifting Liberty's cumulative SME securitisation volume to A$8.8 billion.
The issuance was upsized from $600 million due to strong investor demand.
Deutsche Bank acted as sole arranger and was also a joint lead manager alongside BofA Securities, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, National Australia Bank and Westpac Banking Corporation.
Peter Riedel, chief financial officer at Liberty, said the result reflected continued investor confidence in the lender's diversified book.
"Liberty is a leader in providing households and small businesses with the freedom to choose from a wide range of products and services to meet their financial needs," Riedel said. "We are grateful for the support investors have extended to our business."
A year of strong activity
This is Liberty's second major public securitisation of 2026.
In February, it priced its largest capital markets transaction to date, a $2 billion residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) deal.
That transaction was also upsized – doubling from an initial $1 billion launch – and marked Liberty's 56th publicly placed RMBS and 102nd term capital markets deal overall. Liberty returned to the debt markets in May with a $300 million five-year floating-rate medium-term note.
The heavy issuance activity comes against a backdrop of a shift toward secured lending across its loan book, with motor vehicle, commercial and SMSF finance doing more of the heavy lifting in 2026 while residential mortgage volumes softened.
Earlier this year, Liberty chief executive James Boyle conceded that the residential run-off rate was “beyond our preferences”. But secured lending, which spans motor vehicle, commercial and self-managed superannuation fund (SMSF) finance, was a standout in Liberty’s latest results, with originations in that book climbing nearly 50% year on year.
Rivals also chasing record volumes
Liberty is far from alone in leaning on Australia's securitisation market in 2026.
Firstmac priced a $2 billion residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) transaction in June – the largest Australian RMBS deal since the outbreak of the Iran War rattled global capital markets – after institutional demand pushed the issue well beyond its initial $750 million target.
Earlier in the year, AFG issued its largest-ever residential mortgage-backed securitisation transaction, a $1.2 billion RMBS priced through its AFG Securities arm in February and upsized from $750 million, drawing engagement from more than 30 domestic and offshore investors.
MA Money also priced a $1.25 billion RMBS in February, its first to include a foreign-currency tranche. Days later, ColCap Financial Group completed the record-breaking $2.7 billion RMBS – the largest ever for an Australian non-bank lender – upsized from an initial $1 billion guide.
