Complete news archive

  • CEA completes its largest ILS yet

    The California Earthquake Authority (CEA) has completed its largest ever ILS (see SCI 22 May). The US$925m Ursa Re 2017-1 transaction, structured by Swiss Re, is one of the largest indemnity, annual aggregate catastrophe bonds and covers California earthquake risk.

    Swiss Re underwrote the transaction through two classes of principal-at-risk variable rate notes issued by Ursa Re. The CEA receives .......

    News 24 May 2017

  • Investors overweight RMBS

    Investors are moving out of consumer ABS and into US non-agency RMBS, agency RMBS and cash, according to a Morgan Stanley survey. 89% of survey respondents expect to stay in line or add to their current allocation to securitised products.

    The 2Q17 global investor survey polled 30 hedge funds, 67 asset managers, 23 insurance companies, 27 banks, two pension funds .......

    News 23 May 2017

  • Urgent-care centres could help fill retail vacancies

    Non-traditional tenants such as medical and urgent-care centres could help fill vacancies in large retail properties, according to Morningstar Credit Ratings. There is currently US$739.8m in CMBS with exposure to urgent-care centres where they are one of the five largest tenants and Morningstar suggests the growth of these centres may help combat the growing number of retail tenants filing for .......

    News 23 May 2017

  • Global interest in Euro SF surges

    The number of investors in European securitisations is ramping up and transactions are increasingly oversubscribed. Issuance volumes still lag behind 2016, but structured finance analysts at Bank of America Merrill Lynch are optimistic that 2017 can gain momentum thanks to increased global investor demand.

    There has been renewed investor interest in European structured products, which the analysts believe will push .......

    News 22 May 2017

  • BoC debuts first 'restructured' NPL sale

    Bank of Cyprus, Cyprus's largest lender, has sold approximately €20m of restructured non-performing business loans to a small Cypriot bank. The transaction is the first of its kind in the Cypriot NPL market and the first under the 2015 securitisation legislation, but might not set a precedent for greater investment activity and issuance in the Cypriot NPL market.

    Local press .......

    News Analysis 22 May 2017

  • SCI Start the Week - 22 May

    A look at the major activity in structured finance over the past seven days.

    Pipeline
    There were 11 ABS deals added to the pipeline last week. These were joined by an ILS, six RMBS, two CMBS and a CLO.

    The ABS were: US$220m American Credit Acceptance Receivables Trust 2017-2; US$210m Cajun Global Series 2017-1; US$650m Chesapeake Funding II Series 2017-2; €723.7m Driver Espana Four; US$1.15bn Ford Credit Floorplan Master Owner Trust A 2017-1; .......

    News 22 May 2017

  • Job swaps round-up - 19 May

    CDO manager transfers

    Dock Street Capital Management has replaced Vertical Capital as portfolio advisor to Summer Street 2005-HG1 and Vertical CDO 2003-1. Moody's confirms that the move will not impact the ratings on the ABS CDOs.

    EMEA

    BlueMountain Capital Management has named Louisa Church ceo for Europe. She will also continue in her role as head of client advisory - .......

    Job Swaps 19 May 2017

  • Regulatory proposal for SPVs 'credit negative'

    Proposed European regulatory changes to classify SPVs as financial counterparties have created significant uncertainty and are credit negative, rating agencies warn. Should the European Commission's (EC) intended amendments to EMIR be carried out, transactions would be required to post two-way variation margin and clear derivatives centrally.

    The EC's proposals remain subject to approval from the European Parliament and Council. Fitch .......

    News 19 May 2017

  • Risk transfer round-up - 19 May

    Sources expect three true sale significant risk transfer trades to be issued by Italian banks this year, with NPLs as the underlying asset. Banca Popolare di Bari is rumoured to be one of them.

    "Given that the senior tranche will be retained under GACS, I would expect a substantial portion of the mezzanine and the junior to be sold," says .......

    News 19 May 2017

  • Structured sale to be resecuritised

    Freddie Mac is auctioning an approximately US$292m pool of seasoned re-performing loans from its mortgage investments portfolio in its second such structured sale. The transaction will involve a two-step process and ultimately result in the issuance of the Freddie Mac SLST Guaranteed Securities Series 2017-1 resecuritisation.

    The pool is comprised of loans with step-rate modifications (primarily HAMP) and loans modified .......

    News 19 May 2017

  • STS discussions stumble on hierarchy

    The Strasbourg Trilogue discussions on simple, transparent and standardised (STS) securitisation have been postponed until 30 May, due to disagreements between the European Parliament on the one hand and the European Commission and Council on the other over the hierarchy of CRR approaches. However, the European Parliament has made important concessions over risk retention, increasing the likelihood of a final .......

    News Analysis 19 May 2017

  • Big appetite for BTL RMBS pair

    The two UK buy-to-let RMBS issued by Blackstone and Prudential last month (SCI 4 April) provided a significant source of paper for the market. With UK Asset Resolution (UKAR) set to offload more loans later this year there could be future RMBS in the pipeline as well - although as with the latest two deals, absorbing that paper may test the .......

    News Analysis 18 May 2017

  • Subprime underwriting differences revealed

    Regulation AB 2 loan-level disclosures have shed light on performance differences across transactions originated by the largest US subprime auto loan ABS issuers that would not have been apparent under previous disclosure requirements. A new Moody's analysis of Santander Consumer USA and AmeriCredit Financial Services data suggests that the differences reflect the sponsors' underwriting and pooling strategies.

    For many years, .......

    News 18 May 2017

  • Atlante momentum waning?

    Italian bank rescue fund Atlante II has completed the purchase of its debut €2.2bn non-performing loan securitisation, clearing the way for UBI Banca's acquisition of three small rivals rescued in late 2015. The investment is believed to be one of four transactions that the fund will finalise this year.

    The NPL sale was one of the conditions imposed by UBI .......

    News 17 May 2017

  • CRT customisation gains traction

    The GSE credit risk transfer (CRT) market has continued to evolve since it began in 2013, with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac respectively issuing US$23.9bn and US$19.8bn in CAS and STACR securities to date. The sector has taken a further step forwards in recent weeks, following the execution of the first exchangeables trades.

    GSE CRT deals are a compelling investment .......

    News Analysis 17 May 2017

  • Optionality driving RMBS focus

    The legacy US non-agency RMBS market is experiencing a 'perfect storm' of events, given the current low rate, low volatility environment. Strong performance and increasing optionality has prompted a renewed focus on the product.

    The last 12 months have been stable - with a couple of short-lived bouts of volatility around the Brexit vote and in the run-up to the .......

    News 16 May 2017

  • Premium finance debut ABS lined up

    Premium Credit is bringing to market is first term ABS, an unusual deal backed by premium finance contracts (see SCI's deal pipeline). While the size of the deal has yet to be confirmed, both Moody's and DBRS have assigned triple-A ratings to the senior notes.

    PCL Funding II Series 2017-1 is a three-year revolving cash securitisation of non-life .......

    News 16 May 2017

  • IFRS 9 to spur 'underperforming' loan sales

    The implementation of IFRS 9 is expected to increase provisioning for a new loan category dubbed 'underperforming loans'. As lifetime losses will have to be addressed in this category, it is likely that these assets will become non-core and therefore be subject to increased sales activity.

    According to Tony Clifford, partner at Ernst and Young, IFRS 9 will not significantly .......

    News Analysis 15 May 2017

  • SCI Start the Week - 15 May

    A look at the major activity in structured finance over the past seven days.

    Pipeline
    There was a bit more variety to the pipeline's additions last week, although ABS once again led the charge. There were 10 ABS deals added to the list, along with a further four ILS, two RMBS and five CMBS.

    The ABS were: US$1.05bn Ally Auto Receivables Trust 2017-3; US$575m ARI Fleet Lease Trust 2017-A; CNY3.111bn Autopia China 2017-1 .......

    News 15 May 2017

  • Risk transfer round-up - 12 May

    Risk transfer activity has rebounded this week, with the EIF's landmark Spanish portfolio guarantee. More activity is expected from the fund in the near future (SCI 12 May).

    At the same time, sources talk of more to come in June, along with a capital relief trade in September or October for a Portuguese bank. The issuer is rumoured to be .......

    News 12 May 2017

  • Job swaps round-up - 12 May

    Amicus briefs

    The LSTA has joined The Clearing House and the American Bankers Association to file amicus briefs in cases initiated by the State of Colorado against Avant and Marlette, both of which have bank partners (WebBank and Cross River Bank respectively). In January, Colorado regulators sued the two marketplace platforms, claiming that their loans are subject to Colorado interest .......

    Job Swaps 12 May 2017
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