GE Capital has issued the first dealer floorplan asset-backed security under the Term Asset Backed Securities Lending Facility, or TALF, a program to help unfreeze credit markets, the National Marine Manufacturers Association reports.

"This is the first real sign that liquidity is coming back to the floorplan space in the secondary markets," NMMA legislative director Matthew Dunn told Soundings Trade Only this morning.

"It's very difficult to say what impact these kinds of things are going to have in the current market, but it's certainly good news and we hope that it signals a thawing of the credit market," he added.

On Aug. 6, GE brought $500 million in securitized floorplan loans to market under TALF through its GE Dealer Floorplan Master Note Trust, including floorplan loans for marine, power sports, and others.

The marine component was the largest product share.

Dunn said the NMMA has been working to communicate that marine assets are well performing assets, and although the industry is struggling, delinquency rates are still very low.

"The only way we're going to get back to a position where lending is done on reasonable terms is that increased liquidity," Dunn said. "It is absolutely imperative that for interest rates to come down for the individual dealer, for spreads to tighten, for money to be cheaper and for lending to increase, that the securitization market in the floorplan space has to become liquid again."