ABS

  • CATCo assets sold

    Markel is set to acquire CATCo Investment Management's assets in a deal that is expected to close in 4Q15. The new business will operate under the name Markel CATCo Investment Management and will see the transition of the existing CATCo management team, led by ceo Tony Belisle, into commensurate roles for the new firm.

    The management team will operate the business .......

    Job Swaps 10 September 2015

  • SF practice recruits trio

    Schulte Roth & Zabel has expanded its structured finance practice by adding Boris Ziser and Thomas Weinberger as partners. The law firm has also brought in Stephen Schauder as an associate.

    Ziser will co-head the firm's structured finance and derivatives group, with his experience ranging across ABS, warehouse facilities, secured financings and commercial paper conduits. His practice encompasses a variety of asset .......

    Job Swaps 10 September 2015

  • UK card ABS remains strong

    The collateral performance of UK credit card ABS has remained strong in 1H15, according to S&P. A favourable UK macroeconomic environment has resulted in low delinquencies and charge-offs, while payment and yield rates have been fairly steady from quarter to quarter.

    Charge-off rates were fairly low and stable at 3.03% at the end of 1Q15 and 3.04% at the end .......

    News Round-up 9 September 2015

  • Revolving deal sets China precedent

    Revolving structures can help Chinese banks securitise SME loans because they resolve the mismatch between the short tenor of the underlying loans and the long-term maturity of the securitisation scheme, says Moody's. The agency believes that the recent launch of the first securitisation with such a structure in the interbank bond market may have set a precedent for future transactions to follow.

    News Round-up 8 September 2015

  • SME lending deal boosted

    Prospa has brought to the market the first Australian securitisation of unsecured, online business loans. The firm secured A$60m in capital as proceeds to help both fund the loans to Australian SMEs and support Prospa's expansion in the local financial technology market, making it the largest capital raising to date by an Australian online lender.

    The co-investment is led by Carlyle Group, which .......

    News Round-up 8 September 2015

  • Aussie auto loss rise anticipated

    Fitch expects Australian auto portfolio losses to increase over coming quarters as rising unemployment and delinquencies converge by year end. This follows higher recorded auto arrears in 2Q15, with 60 plus days and 30 plus days arrears reaching 0.56% and 1.34% respectively - an increase of 7bp and 9bp over the quarter.

    The annualised loss rate remained almost unchanged at 0.6% though, .......

    News Round-up 7 September 2015

  • Debt restructuring move agreed

    The Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA) has made a move to reduce its debt by agreeing to a restructuring of the power revenue bonds held by PREPA bondholders from the ad hoc group. The group will exchange all of their outstanding bonds for new securitisation notes and receive 85% of their existing bond claims in new securitisation bonds.

    As part of the agreement, bondholders will be given two options. .......

    News Round-up 4 September 2015

  • Subprime auto delinquencies rise

    The US subprime auto loan ABS sector showed mixed signals in June as losses remained stable on a year-over-year basis, but 60 plus day delinquencies rose to their highest June level since 2009, says S&P. Though showing some weakening, the prime sector stayed largely within historical norms for the month.

    "The prime sector experienced a gradual increase in losses," says .......

    News Round-up 4 September 2015

  • Euro secondary ticks up

    Broader market improvement on the back of the message from the ECB and the Chinese holiday has extended into the European securitisation secondary market with a slight uptick in activity and some improvement in pricing levels.

    Flows continued to revolve around the usual suspects with sterling-denominated prime and peripherals, especially Italy, benefitting the most. At the same time, the CLOs .......

    SCIWire 4 September 2015

  • RFC on SLABS approach extended

    Moody's has published a report that illustrates the application of its proposed new assumptions for rating FFELP student loan ABS. Concurrently, the agency has extended its request for comment period on proposed changes to its approach in rating the asset class.

    Among the changes Moody's proposes is adjusting rating assumptions to accurately reflect the maturity risk from the substantial and .......

    News Round-up 3 September 2015

  • Euro secondary still slow

    Despite hopes for a post-August spike, volumes in the European securitisation secondary market are still only growing slowly.

    "It's still pretty quiet and could take a while to really get going," says one trader. "This week has been slower than we hoped as broader market volatility continues and people are also waiting on the ECB today and the growing primary schedule .......

    SCIWire 3 September 2015

  • Solar firm taps SF expert

    8minutenergy Renewables has named Fred Vaske as vp of project finance. He previously worked as director of structured finance for SunPower, where he structured and negotiated both power purchase agreements with commercial customers and the sale of commercial project portfolios to financial investors. Vaske has also held senior roles in project finance for Hanwha Q CELLS USA and Recurrent Energy, and was .......

    Job Swaps 2 September 2015

  • Chinese issuance quotas 'positive'

    Moody's says that the People's Bank of China's (PBOC) inaugural approval of issuance quotas for Chinese securitisations is a positive development for the country's securitisation market. Under the new system, issuers should have greater certainty about the size and number of deals that they can issue over a set period.

    "The quota system will enable sponsors to speed up the .......

    News Round-up 2 September 2015

  • Euro ABS/MBS struggles back to life

    The European ABS/MBS market is slowly struggling back to life after the summer lull.

    Secondary market tone remains generally weaker and liquidity is still thin across the board. Euro-denominated prime assets continue to be the main focus for the market, but some buying interest has returned for peripheral paper, particularly Italian and Portuguese bonds.

    There are four BWICs on the .......

    SCIWire 2 September 2015

  • A bright future for securitisation

    James McEvoy, head of structured finance at Alter Domus, app...

    An increasing appreciation of how securitisation can help fund the real economy seems to be finally gaining traction, after a number of years of limited activity throughout Europe.

    The European Commission's green paper on building a Capital Markets Union published earlier this year set securitisation as a key pillar in creating a fully integrated single market for capital and funding .......

    Talking Point 2 September 2015

  • Liquidity, collateral quality compared

    JPMorgan ABS analysts have reviewed liquidity and collateral quality, based on TRACE data from 1 June to 29 August, in the two benchmark US ABS sectors - autos and credit cards. The analysis indicates that credit card ABS saw the largest cumulative trading volume during the period, at US$12bn. The sector also posted the highest number of block trades - .......

    News 1 September 2015

  • SME ABS growth predicted

    A new study commissioned by Amicus reveals that 69% of European institutional investors believe there will be an increase in the issuance of SME finance-related ABS over the next two years. In addition, 73% of institutions polled expect there to be a growing appetite for investing in securitisations providing access to SMEs' underlying cashflow assets.

    Investor types that will likely be most attracted to .......

    News Round-up 1 September 2015

  • Auto delinquencies outpace losses

    Most US subprime auto finance securitisers have reported higher managed portfolio delinquencies since year-end 2011, according to S&P. The agency says this is partly due to a return to pre-crisis underwriting standards and new relatively small, deep subprime auto finance companies entering the ABS market.

    Delinquencies averaged a record low of 6.05% at year-end 2011, but made a 65% increase with .......

    News Round-up 1 September 2015

  • Structured settlements 'under-rated'

    New issuers entering the market could help to grow structured settlements ABS, which Morningstar Credit Ratings says are generally easier to service than other ABS receivables and are less prone to default. The rating agency believes class B notes in these transactions can achieve higher ratings than are presently awarded.

    An analysis of a hypothetical transaction with two rated tranches suggests .......

    News Round-up 28 August 2015

  • SF approach confirmed

    Scope has updated its structured finance rating methodology following the conclusion of its request for comment (SCI 17 July). The approach emphasises a fundamental analysis of structured finance instruments in a European context, as well as applying rating stability through a longer-term adjustment of assumptions.

    Scope says that it provides larger credit differentiation because it uses a fundamental bottom-up analysis .......

    News Round-up 28 August 2015

  • ECB 'behind OWIC increase'

    OWICs have been circulating in the European ABS secondary market in growing numbers. While their source has not been confirmed, one London-based portfolio manager strongly suspects they are coming from the ECB.

    "It could be anybody, but it is probably a reasonable bet that it is the agents of the ECB. The market is generally quiet right now, but the work .......

    News 28 August 2015
×