ABS

  • Card charge-offs dip

    US credit card charge-offs dropped slightly in March, as the charge-off rate index fell 3bp below its February level to 4.94%, according to Moody's Credit Card Indices.

    "The charge-off rate index is at its lowest point since the second quarter of 2007, down by more than 55% from its 2010 peak," says Jeffrey Hibbs, a Moody's avp and analyst. "Some .......

    News Round-up 26 April 2012

  • Mixed fortunes for Euro, US primary markets

    A marked divergence in structured finance issuance trends over the past three months has been highlighted by the latest rankings in the SCI league tables for bank arrangers in the structured credit and ABS markets.

    The 1Q12 SCI league tables show that the US has seen a jump in issuance to US$78bn versus US$58bn in 1Q11, whereas Europe has seen .......

    News Round-up 25 April 2012

  • SEC alleges rating agency misrepresentations

    The US SEC has charged Egan-Jones Ratings Company (EJR) and its owner and president, Sean Egan, for material misrepresentations and omissions in the company's July 2008 application to register as an NRSRO for issuers of ABS and government securities. EJR and Egan are also charged with misrepresentations in other submissions to the SEC and with NRSRO record keeping and conflict .......

    Job Swaps 25 April 2012

  • Aircraft ABS specialist recruited

    Esteban Tripodi has joined Lease Corporation International as evp for the Americas. He will be based in New York, working across the marketing and capital markets divisions for both helicopters and fixed wing aircraft.

    Tripodi joins from Aircastle Advisor, where he was capital markets svp. He has previously worked at Guggenheim Capital Markets and began his career as ABS vp .......

    Job Swaps 23 April 2012

  • Container ABS criteria published

    Kroll Bond Rating Agency has released its methodology for rating marine container leasing ABS. KBRA says the criteria are unique because they are the first to be issued by a rating agency that are dedicated exclusively to container leasing ABS.

    The methodology incorporates an assessment of the leasing company or manager, the container fleet and the leases included in the .......

    News Round-up 23 April 2012

  • Non-conforming boost for ABS fund

    Volta Finance, the permanent capital vehicle managed by Axa Investment Managers Paris, has reported a March mark-to-market valuation of +139.1% for its ABS positions, thanks in part to six UK non-conforming ABS deals in its portfolio resuming payment of significant cashflows. The value of these six deals increased by €4.7m or €0.15 per share in March.

    "Thanks to the Bank .......

    News Round-up 20 April 2012

  • Minimal EMEA ABS impairments recorded

    Moody's says that EMEA ABS has performed as expected since the onset of the financial crisis. Between 1January 2007 and 31 December 2011, the migration of investment grade securities to impairment/default was minimal.

    Twenty-three EMEA ABS tranches rated investment grade at closing across 14 transactions became impaired during the period, amounting to 1% of 2,127 investment grade EMEA ABS tranches .......

    News Round-up 17 April 2012

  • MBS, ABS heads moving on

    Gleacher & Company Securities' head of MBS, ABS and rates and head of trading for MBS, ABS and rates are both leaving the firm. Robert Fine and Robert Tirschwell will each remain with the company on a temporary basis. Gleacher says it is considering both internal and external candidates for the positions.

    .......

    Job Swaps 13 April 2012

  • Cards on the table

    Quarterly review and outlook for consumer/credit card ABS

    We asked the winners of SCI's 2011 arranger awards for the consumer/credit card ABS sectors either side of the Atlantic to answer some questions to gauge their views on activity in Q1 and expectations for Q2 in the sector. Below are their answers.

    Europe
    By Robert Plehn, md, head of asset backed solutions, Lloyds Bank Wholesale Banking & Markets. Lloyds Bank .......

    News Analysis 12 April 2012

  • Survey highlights Solvency II concerns

    A recent AFME survey of securitisation investors shows that the proposed Solvency II capital charges are likely to cause a permanent drop in securitisation funding, which could seriously reduce future growth in Europe. AFME is urging policymakers to delegate the assessment of securitisation capital charges to the EIOPA Technical Expert Group, or alternatively conduct further research.

    AFME surveyed 27 Europe-based .......

    News Round-up 11 April 2012

  • London law firm appoints partner

    Prakash Paran has joined DLA Piper's London office as partner in the corporate group and member of the global insurance and reinsurance group. He is the latest in a string of departures from Dewey & LeBoeuf (SCI passim).

    Paran specialises in insurance and ILS. He also has experience in mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures and corporate reorganisations and was at .......

    Job Swaps 11 April 2012

  • Stable outlook for US card industry

    Moody's outlook for the US credit card industry remains stable, reflecting primarily card issuers' stronger asset quality and profitability in an improved macroeconomic environment.

    "Card issuers' asset quality has improved significantly over the past year on the back of stronger employment numbers, higher monthly payments by cardholders and continued 'portfolio cleansing' by issuers," says Moody's vp Curt Beaudouin. "And we .......

    News Round-up 11 April 2012

  • ILS specialist recruited

    Stephen Rooney has joined Mayer Brown in New York as partner and co-leader of the insurance finance group and member of the firm's banking and finance practice. He specialises in ILS and was previously global chair of Dewey & LeBoeuf's structured finance group.

    .......

    Job Swaps 10 April 2012

  • Three cat bonds close

    Three catastrophe bonds closed last week. All saw strong investor interest and finished larger than initial size projections.

    Allianz's Blue Danube (SCI 13 March) saw its two tranches reach US$120m each. The class A notes priced at 600bp over the permitted investment yield (six-month Libor minus 32bp) and the class Bs at 1075bp over.

    The series 2012-1 class A and .......

    News 10 April 2012

  • Rehab SLABS liquidity risk warning

    Fitch believes that the increase in rehabilitated student loans in some recent FFELP ABS transactions heightens near-term liquidity risk, despite the US government guarantee on these loans.

    Rehabilitated student loans are those in which the borrower defaults but subsequently makes nine on-time payments during 10 consecutive months. In these situations, the collection costs - up to 18.5% of the outstanding .......

    News Round-up 10 April 2012

  • Florida cat bond marketing

    Goldman Sachs is marketing a US$200m catastrophe bond on behalf of Citizens Property Insurance - Everglades Re. The single tranche hurricane deal has been assigned a preliminary rating of single-B plus by S&P.

    Everglades Re covers ultimate net losses of Citizens from hurricanes in the state of Florida on a per-occurrence basis. Ultimate net loss does not include extra-contractual obligations .......

    News Round-up 5 April 2012

  • FFELP SLABS criteria tweaked

    Fitch has updated its FFELP student loan ABS criteria. While largely unchanged from the perspective of rating methodology and analytical approach, the updates incorporate several enhancements to the agency's credit analysis.

    These include: the revision of basis stress assumptions due to the special allowance payment (SAP) index change; highlighting the US sovereign rating as one of the key rating drivers; .......

    News Round-up 4 April 2012

  • FFELP SLABS review hits

    Moody's has placed on review for possible downgrade the ratings of 189 tranches in 24 US FFELP student loan ABS from eight issuers, following the publication of its new methodology for the sector (SCI 20 January). At the same time, five subordinate tranches in five transactions were placed on review for possible upgrade. Approximately US$7.5bn of securities are affected as .......

    News Round-up 3 April 2012

  • Canadian card ABS criteria issued

    S&P has published its methodology and assumptions for analysing credit risk associated with credit card ABS in Canada, effective immediately. At this time, no outstanding ratings are expected to be affected by the new criteria.

    There are many similarities between the Canadian and US credit card markets and securitisation structures, S&P notes. Accordingly, the agency will apply the same criteria .......

    News Round-up 28 March 2012

  • Mexican equipment ABS criteria finalised

    S&P has published its methodology and assumptions for rating Mexican equipment lease ABS, effective immediately. At this time, no outstanding ratings are expected to be affected by the new criteria.

    Equipment lease ABS in Mexico are similar to those in the US, S&P notes. Accordingly, when analysing such transactions, the agency will apply its US criteria with a few adjustments .......

    News Round-up 27 March 2012

  • Private SLABS at risk

    The New York Fed recently reported that as many as 27% of all US student loan borrowers are more than 30 days past due, with recent estimates suggesting that US$900bn-US$1trn of student loans are outstanding. Fitch believes that the recent increase in past-due and defaulted student loans presents a risk to investors in private student loan ABS, but not those .......

    News Round-up 23 March 2012
×