Westlake Says Percentage Drop in Texas Due to Increased Regional Diversification

The portion of loans originated by Westlake Financial Services in Texas and Florida that ended up in the lender’s $245.47 million securitization last month dropped to about 6%. That level compares with 17.6% for Texas and 12.5% for Florida in Westlake’s 2011 securitization.

A Westlake spokesman told AutoFinanceNews.net that the Florida and Texas declines were the result of diversification into other states. “Our portfolio continues to grow strong and has solid backing,” said Director of Marketing David Goff.

Westlake’s  actual volume in California and Texas continues to grow, but originations in other states are starting to grow “quite a bit,” he added. For example, Wisconsin and New York ― both newer markets for Westlake ― have seen significant growth over the past two years, he said.

A spokeswoman from Standard & Poor’s, which rated Westlake’s securitization, said that geographic concentration varies by transaction based on where the included receivables were originated.

In a presale report for last month’s ABS deal, S&P said Westlake’s managed portfolio increased to $1.51 billion as of July 31, from $1.38 billion a year earlier. Losses and delinquencies have crept up when compared with the lows of 2010 and 2011. Citing Westlake management, S&P said the uptick in losses and delinquencies is driven by lower recoveries, primarily due to a softening used-car market that appears to be reverting back to more normalized levels, as well as increased competition in the auto finance market. Westlake management maintains that there has been no material change to its underwriting standards and philosophy.