Auto Finance News is pleased to announce that Michael Girard, senior director of asset-backed securities over North America at Fitch Ratings, will participate in a panel discussion on the state of auto ABS at the inaugural Auto Finance Capital Summit, taking place May 11-12 at the JW Marriott in Nashville, Tenn.

Michael Girard

Girard will speak on the keynote panel, “The state of auto ABS in 2026,” on Monday, May 11 at 9:15 a.m. local time.  He and other industry leaders will discuss credit bifurcation and issuer performance trends.

View the full event agenda.

Scheduled to join Girard on the panel are:

• Kayvan Darouian, director of consumer ABS Research at Deutsche Bank;
• Robert Machanic, vice president of capital markets and treasury at Global Lending Services; and
• James Schofield, president and chief operating officer at Toyota Financial Savings Bank.

Girard has worked for Fitch Ratings for more than six years in various ABS roles. His previous roles included credit risk, financial analyst and treasury analyst positions across Nortel, Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan and Great-West Life.

Fitch provides ratings for major asset-backed securitization issuances and provides portfolio data on the companies it rates.

The Auto Finance Capital Summit will offer attendees a comprehensive look at trends in funding, securitization and investment across the auto finance sector. Through networking, presentations and panel discussions, participants will gain insights to support strategies around capital stress testing, fraud mitigation, risk-based pricing and treasury risk frameworks.

Learn more about Auto Finance Capital Summit and register here.