ABS

  • Muted sentiment revealed

    Delegates at this year's IMN Global ABS conference were more pessimistic about publicly-placed European structured finance issuance volumes compared to last year, according to a survey undertaken by Fitch. Of those polled, 34% expected 2016 issuance volumes to beat last year's levels, significantly down from the 59% who predicted a year-on-year rise in 2015.

    Overall, 34% of respondents expected a .......

    News Round-up 17 June 2016

  • MBIA Corp liquidity warning

    S&P has lowered its financial strength rating on MBIA Insurance Corp to triple-C from single-B, with a negative outlook. The move is due to the insurer's weak liquidity positon and, absent favourable developments, the expectation that it is unlikely to meet all of its insurance policy obligations in the next 12 months.

    Specifically, the insured notes issued by the Zohar .......

    News Round-up 17 June 2016

  • Blockchain cat swap executed

    Allianz Risk Transfer (ART) and Nephila Capital have successfully piloted the use of blockchain smart contract technology for transacting a natural catastrophe swap. The test-run not only demonstrates that transactional processing and settlement between insurers and investors could be significantly accelerated and simplified by blockchain-based contracts, but also points to other benefits, such as increased tradability of cat bonds and .......

    News Round-up 17 June 2016

  • Streamlined extension service offered

    Nelnet has launched a new online forum designed to facilitate effective communication with and among investors in FFELP student loan ABS. Free for investors, the service is powered by DealVector and allows them to receive bond-specific notifications and documentation from Nelnet more rapidly than through traditional channels. Investors can also communicate with Nelnet and other bondholders through DealVector's secure messaging .......

    News Round-up 17 June 2016

  • Tobacco ABS pay-downs rise

    US cigarette consumption rose for the first time in nine years in 2015, interrupting a long-term trend of declining smoking. Moody's says that tobacco settlement ABS are consequently receiving larger payments from tobacco manufacturers in 2016 than they did last year.

    Cigarette shipments - a proxy for consumption - have fallen by an average of 3%-4% per year since the .......

    News Round-up 17 June 2016

  • Green Bond Principles updated

    A 2016 edition of the Green Bond Principles (GBP) has been released, creating an online resource for voluntary issuer information on green bond alignment and introducing guidance for issuers of social bonds. The latest edition benefits from the input of GBP members and observers, and takes into account recent market developments.

    While the 2016 update continues to be framed by .......

    News Round-up 16 June 2016

  • Euro ABS prospects polled

    In its first annual survey of European structured finance and covered bond market participants, DBRS finds that 79% of portfolio managers intend to increase their securitisation investment - 64% by 'a little' and 14% by 'a lot'. Just under half (43%) of respondents cite 'lack of supply' as a reason why they are restricted from purchasing more, with 'regulation' the .......

    News 16 June 2016

  • SME lender names chief

    British Business Bank Investments has appointed Catherine Lewis La Torre as ceo, effective from 1 September. She joins from Cardano, where she is head of private equity and responsible for managing a portfolio of private capital fund investments with over £1bn of client commitments. The appointment follows the announcement that Peter Wilson was stepping down as ceo in March.

    Lewis .......

    Job Swaps 16 June 2016

  • Trading trio recruited

    CastleOak Securities has bolstered its leveraged finance sales and trading capabilities by hiring Michael Miller, Thomas Takacs and Richard Wright. All mds, the trio is charged with growing the firm's leveraged finance fixed income sales and trading team.

    Most recently, Miller served as head of trading at Macquarie Capital from 2012 to 2015. He previously held leveraged finance roles at .......

    Job Swaps 16 June 2016

  • ABS team strengthened

    TwentyFour Asset Management has recruited John Lawler to its ABS portfolio management team. Lawler will officially join the firm in August. He previously held senior roles at RBS, Barclays and Nomura.

    .......

    Job Swaps 16 June 2016

  • Dual ILS tools debut

    Huang & Associates Analytics (HAA) has released two new ILS tools, RAPID Pro and Deal Tracker. They will be used to assist reinsurers and fund managers in areas that include comprehensive pricing, underwriting and fair valuation.

    RAPID - short for Risk Aggregation Platform for ILS Decisions - is designed to provide a robust framework for fair valuation of transactions. Meanwhile, .......

    News Round-up 16 June 2016

  • Veteran London trader tapped

    Imperial Capital Group has hired Jonathan Noonan as svp and a senior trader focusing on CMBS, pubs and esoteric ABS. He will join the structured products trading group in the firm's London office. Noonan joins from Bank of America Merrill Lynch, where he most recently was a director and ABS trader.

    .......

    Job Swaps 15 June 2016

  • Distressed opportunity fund closes

    Crestline Investors has made an additional closing of its Crestline Opportunity Fund III, bringing its capital to US$720m. The fund invests primarily in SME corporate and ABS opportunities, with a focus in North America and Europe.

    The ninth in Crestline's series of opportunistic funds seeks to take advantage of dislocations in the two continents' primary and secondary markets. The fund provides sub-US$50m .......

    News Round-up 15 June 2016

  • More SLABS reviewed on FFELP update

    Moody's has taken rating actions on 403 tranches of FFELP student loan ABS and ABS backed by mixed pools of student loans (both FFELP and private), affecting approximately US$84.3bn of securities. The move follows the agency's initial assessment of the securities under its updated FFELP student loan ABS methodology, which it published yesterday (14 June).

    Moody's placed 266 tranches in .......

    News Round-up 15 June 2016

  • Legislation to support Italian SME NPLs

    Moody's says that recent legislative initiatives in Italy should benefit SME NPL securitisations in the country through streamlining the insolvency process and improving loan recoveries. The issuance of SME NPL ABS is expected to re-emerge in Italy in 2016 after nearly ten years of dormancy.

    The Italian government outlined its intent earlier this year to introduce rules establishing a guarantee .......

    News Round-up 14 June 2016

  • Further SLABS extended

    Navient has amended the transaction agreement for SLM Trust 2013-2, in order to extend the legal final maturity date of the US$800m senior tranche to 2043. Since December 2015, Navient has extended the legal final maturity dates on US$6.8bn of bonds from its FFELP student loan ABS.

    .......

    News Round-up 14 June 2016

  • ILS fund administrator acquired

    Horseshoe Group has acquired IKONIC Fund Services, expanding its service offering to include fund administration. Horseshoe and IKONIC have partnered since 2011 through the joint venture fund administrator, ILS Fund Services.

    IKONIC will be rebranded as Horseshoe Fund Services as part of the deal, which builds on Horseshoe's status as the largest independent insurance manager to the ILS market. Post-acquisition, .......

    Job Swaps 14 June 2016

  • Demica beefs up

    Demica has added three key new roles to its team in London, with the aim of developing both its origination, structuring and transaction management services and its proprietary technology platform. Mansour Davarian joins the firm as associate director of origination, Markus Musielak joins as a director of structuring and Luke Thompstone joins as senior infrastructure engineer.

    Davarian was previously European .......

    Job Swaps 14 June 2016

  • Going green

    Evolution of renewables ABS discussed

    Representatives from Renovate America, Kramer Levin and T-Rex recently discussed the development of the renewables ABS market during a live webinar hosted by SCI (view the webinar here). Focusing on the PACE and solar sectors, this Q&A article highlights the main talking points from the session, including structuring and performance considerations. For a broader and more in-depth exploration .......

    Talking Point 13 June 2016

  • Placed issuance declining

    €56.9bn of securitised product was issued in Europe in 1Q16, a decline of 20.4% from 4Q15 (€71.4bn) but an increase of 61.2% from 1Q15 (€35.3bn), according to AFME's latest securitisation data report. Of the total issued during the quarter, €14.3bn was placed (representing 25.2% of issuance), compared to €15.6bn placed in 4Q15 (21.8%) and €19.7bn placed in 1Q15 (55.9%).

    For .......

    News Round-up 10 June 2016

  • Fitch finalising SLABS update

    Fitch is in the final phase of updating its criteria for US FFELP student loan ABS. The rating agency expects to publish the new criteria within 60 days.

    The final phase of the criteria review includes transaction testing and model validation. Revisions have been made to reflect changing payment behaviour and loan status trends in FFELP collateral, with slower payment .......

    News Round-up 10 June 2016
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