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What: Shares of sub-prime auto lender Santander Consumer USA Holdings (SC) are down by about 10% as of 12:30 p.m. ET on Monday after the company announced that it will delay its second-quarter earnings report.
So what: Santander Consumer USA announced that it is currently discussing its accounting policies with its current and previous independent accounts surrounding its discount accretion and credit loss allowance methodologies, broadly referring to revenue it records when loans are issued at a discount to principal, and its assumptions about credit losses stemming from its book of sub-prime auto loans.
Recently, Santander USA Holdings, the bank-holding company which owns the majority of the publicly traded consumer unit, failed the qualitative portion of the Fed's stress test for the third year in a row. The Fed cited "material unresolved supervisory issues" for its failure.
Now what: This is yet another problem in a seemingly unending tide of accounting issues. Previously, the company reported it did not maintain effective internal controls over its financial reporting in its 2015 annual report.
Its credit loss allowance models, management review processes for restructured loans, and the processes and documentation related to the classification of cash flows between operating and investing activities were cited as points of weakness. Another delay of its financial filings suggests that Santander Consumer USA Holdings hasn't yet put its many issues behind it. For today at least, investors seem content to sell now and ask questions later.
