ABS

  • Securitisation lawyer hired

    Deborah Festa has joined Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy as a partner in its Los Angeles office. She joins from O'Melveny & Myers, where she was also a partner.

    Festa's practice covers securitisations, complex domestic and off-shore financing arrangements in various asset classes, and cash flow, market value and synthetic CLO transactions. Prior to O'Melveny & Myers she served as an .......

    Job Swaps 20 January 2012

  • FFELP SLABS targeted

    Moody's has issued an RFC on a proposed update to the cashflow assumptions it uses when rating FFELP student loan securitisations. If implemented, the agency warns that it would expect to downgrade the ratings of approximately US$20bn of outstanding FFELP student-loan backed transactions - about 10% of the FFELP securities it rates.

    The key cashflow assumptions Moody's proposes updating are .......

    News Round-up 20 January 2012

  • Low loss rates predicted for auto ABS

    Losses fell for both prime and subprime US auto loan ABS last month. Fitch expects more of the same for the first half of 2012, based on its latest index results for the sector.

    Performance has been supported by two consecutive months of stronger used vehicle values and some positive economic data in the US. With these factors supporting asset .......

    News Round-up 20 January 2012

  • SEC fines UBS investment arm

    The US SEC has charged UBS Global Asset Management with failing to properly price securities in three mutual funds it managed, resulting in a misstatement to investors of the NAVs of those funds.

    The misconduct was discovered during an SEC investigation, triggered by a referral from SEC examiners. The investigation determined that during a two-week period the company did not .......

    Job Swaps 18 January 2012

  • CatVest launches ILS, ILW tools

    CatVest Petroleum Services has launched its EnergyRisk Model and Industry Loss Index. The firm's modelling services are specifically designed to assist with the transfer of risks to the capital markets through the use of financial instruments, such as ILS and ILWs.

    CatVest has devised a suite of modelling tools that it claims allows for accurate estimation, analyses, calculation and indexing .......

    News Round-up 18 January 2012

  • Assurant returns with latest Ibis Re deal

    Assurant is to sell a third issuance of notes from its Ibis Re II programme, having last tapped the market in April 2010. Ibis Re II 2012-1 will issue approximately US$70m of double-B minus rated class A three-year notes and US$30m of single-B minus class B three-year notes, covering US hurricane risk.

    The transaction has been structured by Aon Benfield .......

    News Round-up 18 January 2012

  • ABCP PWCE criteria changes proposed

    S&P has published a request for comment (RFC) on proposed changes to the methodologies and assumptions it uses to rate fully and partially credit-enhanced multiseller ABCP conduits. The RFC focuses specifically on proposed criteria for the minimum amount of programme-wide credit enhancement (PWCE) required to maintain an A-1+ or A-1 rating on commercial paper issued by multiseller ABCP conduits.

    If .......

    News Round-up 18 January 2012

  • Mixed outlook for aircraft ABS

    Fitch's outlook for aircraft ABS performance in 2012 remains mixed. While base-case expectations call for relatively stable aircraft values and lease rates, a eurozone debt crisis-driven recession could substantially affect that outlook. Downgrades on aircraft-related securitisations will likely surpass upgrades in 2012, particularly among older vintage transactions, the agency notes.

    Fitch expects that despite the upcoming delivery of newer technology .......

    News Round-up 17 January 2012

  • Zenkyoren returns

    A new Japanese quake catastrophe bond has begun marketing on behalf of Japan's National Mutual Insurance Federation of Agricultural Cooperatives (Zenkyoren), whose Muteki Re cat bond suffered a 100% loss after last year's Tohoku earthquake.

    The Single tranche US$150m Kibou transaction is being arranged by GC Securities on behalf of risk counterparty Hannover Re and reinsurer Zenkyoren. The series 2012-1 .......

    News Round-up 16 January 2012

  • Loan defaults weigh on SME ABS

    Moody's expects deterioration in the credit quality of European banks to negatively affect new and existing SME ABS transactions, leading to a rise in loan defaults in 2012. The impact will be most acute in transactions without additional structural features or more credit enhancement to compensate for the reduced credit quality of counterparties.

    "Sovereign turmoil and banking sector stresses will .......

    News Round-up 16 January 2012

  • Vitality III marketing

    Goldman Sachs and BNP Paribas are marketing the third Vitality Re medical benefit claims ILS. Vitality Re III 2012-1 is a two-tranche deal, comprising US$105m class A notes preliminarily rated triple-B plus by S&P and US$45m class B notes currently rated double-B plus.

    As with the previous Vitality Re transaction, S&P says the preliminary ratings are based on a model .......

    News Round-up 13 January 2012

  • Negative outlook for US ABCP

    Moody's credit outlook for US ABCP in 2012 is negative, although its outlook for the credit quality of assets funded by ABCP is neutral to improving. The volume of outstanding commercial paper will likely decline this year.

    "Our outlook for ABCP is negative primarily because of our negative outlook for the global banking sector," says Everett Rutan, a Moody's svp. .......

    News Round-up 12 January 2012

  • Law firm adds SF specialist

    Berwin Leighton Paisner has added a structured finance specialist to its banking and capital markets group. Prashanth Satyadeva joins from Clifford Chance, where he was a securitisation partner.

    Satyadeva advises banks, funds, corporates and others on securitisations and asset-backed finance structures across several sectors. He will report to Paul Severs, also formerly of Clifford Chance.

    .......

    Job Swaps 11 January 2012

  • Monoline replacement agreed

    Assured Guaranty (Europe) has replaced Ambac Assurance UK as financial guarantor and controlling creditor on Worcestershire Hospital SPC, a £97.2m UK Private Finance Initiative bond issue. The move is expected to enhance the creditworthiness of the bonds and was approved by 100% of the voting bondholders.

    The guarantees - for timely payment of scheduled principal and interest throughout the life .......

    News Round-up 9 January 2012

  • Stable outlook for Canadian ABCP

    Moody's outlook for Canadian ABCP programmes for 2012 is stable, with the credit quality of the underlying assets remaining strong and the rating outlook for the banks that supply their liquidity support continuing to be stable.

    "The credit quality of the assets in the ABCP programmes remains strong, with few or no losses relative to credit enhancement," says Lisa Singman, .......

    News Round-up 4 January 2012

  • CoActiv appoints credit svp

    CoActiv Capital Partners has promoted Robert Levitsky to credit and risk management svp. Levitsky will lead the small ticket and structured finance credit underwriting teams, as well as overseeing risk management interaction with CoActiv's parent, Marubeni America Corporation.

    Levitsky has thirty years of experience in the industry and was most recently credit and risk management vp, having previously been CoActiv's .......

    Job Swaps 4 January 2012

  • Tech firm recruits Euro md

    Jamie Harper has joined Vichara Technologies as European business development md. He is based in London.

    Harper's most recent post was as vp for EMEA at Lewtan Technologies. Previous roles include svp at Demica and a business development position at Moody's RMS.

    .......

    Job Swaps 3 January 2012

  • Card charge-offs increase

    US credit card charge-offs increased by 17bp in November to 5.38%, according to Moody's latest credit card indices. With other key performance measures remaining strong in November, the agency continues to expect the overall trend in charge-offs to be downward, with the rate eventually falling below 4% by the end of 2012.

    "The charge-off rate index is more than three .......

    News Round-up 3 January 2012

  • Law firm names SF head

    Reed Smith has appointed Tamara Box as head of structured finance. Previously head of international structured finance at Berwin Leighton Paisner, Box joins Reed Smith's London office as a partner in the financial industry group.

    Box is qualified in both England and New York and specialises in securitisations, derivatives, debt capital markets and debt restructurings. She also has significant experience .......

    Job Swaps 22 December 2011

  • Stable auto ABS performance predicted

    With small declines in both delinquencies and losses in November, stable asset performance for US auto ABS will likely stay the course in 2012, according to Fitch's latest index results for the sector. US prime and subprime auto loan ABS continued to show performance stability during the month, posting marginal improvements in both delinquencies and losses month-over-month (MOM).

    Asset performance .......

    News Round-up 21 December 2011

  • Fixed income role created

    BlackRock has hired Jeffrey Rosenberg as md and chief investment strategist for fixed income. It is a new position and he will report to Robert Stanley, head of retail fixed income within the portfolio management group.

    Rosenberg joins from Bank of America Merrill Lynch, where he was head of global credit strategy research, overseeing strategy for ABS, CMBS and RMBS, .......

    Job Swaps 20 December 2011
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