The Australian Office of Financial Management will host roundtables in Sydney and Melbourne this week to give industry a forum to discuss the development of the new Australian Business Securitisation Fund.The AOFM will update industry on its progress in establishing the ABSF and discuss the ABSF investment principles, a draft of which was released in May.The Sydney roundtable will be held on 23 July and the Melbourne session on 25 July.The ABSF was set up to invest in securities issued by warehouses and special purpose vehicles established by small business lenders, with the aim of supporting the provision of credit to the under-serviced SME market.The government hopes to make the SME lending sector more competitive. It has committed A$2 billion to the scheme, which will be credited to the fund over four years. The first payment into the fund, of $250 million, was made on 1 July.The draft investment principles say the AOFM is not seeking to standardise the risk or other underwriting characteristic of loans it may invest in.The guiding principles are grouped under two headings: market impact and risk management.When it comes to market impact, the AOFM will look at how the proposed investment will impact the SME lender's development path, its SME clients and improve the broader SME lending market. It will favour transactions that are more transparent and which can serve as "model" transactions.It will look for deals that are likely to attract, rather than crowd out, non-securitised investment and it will look for deals that enhance competition.Risk management considerations will include the lender's ability to demonstrate good governance, good practice in lending assessment, servicing and collections.The AOFM will look at how lenders manage environmental, social and governance risks, which in this context will include unfair contract terms and anti-money laundering. It will also consider reputational risk, which means "lending to industries involved in illegal or questionable activities and the black economy".It will look for lending activities that are "broadly in line with an investment grade risk profile". And it will look for good regulatory compliance.