In this month’s featured segment, Yehudah Forster of the Residential Mortgage-backed Securities team breaks down potential changes to the qualified mortgage rules, and what they mean for the credit quality of future RMBS. Plus, Aaron Johnson and Xhen Pisha draw on our 2021 outlooks to highlight the structured finance asset classes on the bumpiest roads as the economy recovers from a tumultuous 2020.

Electric-vehicle battery makers will generally benefit from rising battery demand, but rapid business expansion and investments in innovative technology to maintain a competitive edge will come with operational risks and the challenge of keeping leverage stable. Mihoko Manabe and Motoki Yanase of the Corporates team in Tokyo examine the credit implications for rated battery makers in this podcast.

We expect the G-20 economies to grow collectively by 5.3% this year and by 4.5% in 2022, after contracting 3.3% in 2020. Most countries’ overall economic outcomes last year were better than our forecasts because of stronger-than-expected rebounds in the second half.