Further, NMAC has been, or may become, subject to various legal and regulatory proceedings and governmental investigations in the ordinary course of its business. Such proceedings and investigations could result in (individually or in the aggregate) adverse consequences to the sponsor including, without limitation, adverse judgments, settlements, fines, penalties, injunctions, or other actions and may affect the ability of NMAC or any of its subsidiaries or affiliates to perform their respective duties under the Basic Documents.
NMAC relies upon its ability to sell securities in the asset-backed securities market and upon its ability to access various credit facilities to fund its operations. The global credit and financial markets have experienced, and may continue to experience, significant disruption and volatility. If NMAC’s access to funding is reduced or if NMAC’s costs to obtain such funding significantly increase, NMAC’s business, financial condition and results of operations could be materially and adversely affected, which could adversely affect NMAC’s ability to perform its obligations under the Basic Documents, including as servicer, and the liquidity and market value of your notes.
In addition, adverse corporate developments with respect to servicers of asset-backed securities or their affiliates have in some cases also resulted in a reduction in the market value and/or liquidity of the related asset-backed securities. NMAC is an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of NML. Although neither NML nor NMAC is guaranteeing the obligations of the issuing entity, adverse events affecting NML or NMAC may adversely affect your investment in the notes. For example, if NML ceased to manufacture vehicles or support the sale of vehicles, if the credit rating of NML or NMAC were downgraded or if NML faced challenges related to its ongoing strategic alliances or financial, reputational, regulatory or operational difficulties, those events may reduce the market value of Nissan or Infiniti vehicles or the market value and/or liquidity of your notes. Any reduction in the market value of Nissan and Infiniti vehicles may result in lower values realized through any foreclosure proceedings held with respect to those vehicles or self-help repossessions and dispositions and as a result, reduce amounts available to pay the notes and the timing and amount of payments on your notes. See “—The risk and severity of loss on the receivables is generally higher in circumstances where the outstanding principal balance of a receivable is greater than the value of the related financed vehicle, which may result in losses on your notes” in this prospectus.
Additionally, the ability of the servicer, NMAC, to perform its obligations under the Basic Documents will depend, in part, on its ability to store, retrieve, process and manage substantial amounts of information. Any failure or interruption of the servicer’s information systems or any third party information systems on which it relies as a result of inadequate or failed processes or systems, human errors, employee misconduct, catastrophic events, external or internal security breaches, acts of vandalism, hardware or software failures, computer viruses, malware, ransomware, misplaced or lost data or other events could disrupt the servicer’s normal operating procedures, could damage its reputation, could lead to significant costs to remediate and could have an adverse effect on its business, results of operations and financial condition.
From time to time, the servicer may update its servicing systems in order to improve operating efficiency, update technology and enhance customer services. In connection with any updates or transitions, the servicer may experience disruptions in servicing activities both during and following roll-out of the new servicing systems or platforms caused by, among other things, periods of system down-time and periods devoted to user training. These and other implementation-related difficulties may contribute to higher delinquencies, servicing inefficiencies, data processing issues, manual intervention to supplement or correct systems issues and the need for further updates to the servicing systems. It is not possible to predict with any degree of certainty all of the potential adverse consequences that may be experienced in connection with a failure or interruption of information systems, and any disruptions in servicing activities may have an adverse effect on your notes.
Further, the servicer has been and continues to be subject to the threat of a range of cyber-attacks, which, if successful, could give rise to the loss of significant amounts of sensitive information and the disablement of the information technology systems used to service obligors on the receivables and other customers. NMAC may incur significant costs in attempting to protect against such attacks or remediate any vulnerability or resulting breach. For example, obligors may have a private right of action against the servicer if the incident results in unauthorized access or disclosure of personal information. If NMAC fails to effectively manage cyber-security risk or is required to devote significant resources towards doing so, this could materially and adversely affect its business, financial condition and results of operation, as well as its ability to service the receivables, resulting in an increased risk of loss on your notes. Nissan North America, Inc. (“NNA”) learned on November 7, 2023 that it was the victim of a
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