The publication or distribution by a broker or dealer of information, an opinion or a recommendation with respect to asset-backed securities meeting the criteria of Form SF-3 (§239.45 of this chapter) (“SF-3 ABS”) shall not be deemed to constitute an offer for sale or offer to sell SF-3 ABS registered or proposed to be registered for purposes of sections 2(a)(10) and 5(c) of the Act (15 U.S.C. 77b(a)(10) and 77e(c)) (the “registered securities”), even if such broker or dealer is or will be a participant in the distribution of the registered securities, if the following conditions are met:

(a) The broker or dealer shall have previously published or distributed with reasonable regularity information, opinions or recommendations relating to SF-3 ABS backed directly (or, with respect to securitizations of other securities, indirectly) by substantially similar collateral as that directly or indirectly backing SF-3 ABS that is the subject of the information, opinion or recommendation that is proposed to be published or distributed.

(b) If the registered securities are proposed to be offered, offered or part of an unsold allotment or subscription, the information, opinion or recommendation shall not:

(1) Identify the registered securities;

(2) Give greater prominence to specific structural or collateral-related attributes of the registered securities than it gives to the same attributes of other asset-backed securities that it mentions; or

(3) Contain any ABS informational and computational material (as defined in §229.1101 of this chapter) relating to the registered securities.

(c) Sufficient information is available from one or more public sources to provide a reasonable basis for the view expressed by the broker or dealer with respect to the asset-backed securities that are the subject of the information, opinion or recommendation.

(d) If the material published by the broker or dealer identifies asset-backed securities backed directly or indirectly by substantially similar collateral as that directly or indirectly backing the registered securities and specifically recommends that such asset-backed securities be preferred over other asset-backed securities backed by different types of collateral, then the material shall explain in reasonable detail the reasons for such preference.

[70 FR 1615, Jan. 7, 2005, as amended at 70 FR 44804, Aug. 3, 2005; 79 FR 57328, Sept. 24, 2014]