Complete news archive

  • Nordic cooperation inked

    SCIO Capital has announced what it terms as "a cooperation" with Nordic-focused institutional investment advisory firm Lapposand and its owner Jessica Eistrand. Eistrand's background is in fixed income and structured products, with several international investment banks and investment advisors. More recently, she has been working with sustainability and alternative investment managers seeking to grow their Nordic institutional investor market presence.

    Job Swaps 22 November 2016

  • RMBS case settled

    Ally Financial has agreed to pay US$52m in conjunction with its resolution of all outstanding investigations and potential claims by the US Department of Justice (DOJ) related to RMBS issued by the company's former mortgage subsidiary Residential Capital and its ResCap RMBS subsidiaries. It has also agreed to withdraw the broker-dealer registration of Ally Securities, which it says has not .......

    Job Swaps 22 November 2016

  • Loss severity spikes

    US CMBS loan losses jumped well beyond the historical weighted average loss severity during 3Q16, Moody's reports. The weighted average loss severity increased to 52% for the loans liquidated during the quarter from 41.3% in the prior quarter, well above the historical weighted average of 42.9% for loans liquidated between 1 January 2000 and 30 September 2016.

    "In the third .......

    News Round-up 22 November 2016

  • Servicers 'could be NPL saviours'

    Italian banks' outstanding balance of non-performing exposure (NPE) is nearly five times higher than the amount registered in 2007. With NPL disposal proving to be tricky, S&P believes Italian servicers can be part of the solution by leveraging their expertise and capability as third-party asset managers.

    The total stock of Italian NPE decreased in 1H16 for the first time in .......

    News Round-up 22 November 2016

  • Euro CLOs mixed

    European CLOs are experiencing mixed fortunes in the secondary market depending on maturity and part of the stack.

    "Overall, secondary volumes are down as everyone prepares for year-end," says one trader. "However, we're still doing a fair bit in investment grade flows - particularly triple-As of all vintages - but any bids for non-IG 2.0 paper are now opportunistic ones."

    SCIWire 22 November 2016

  • Premium pricing

    Above-par issuance techniques explored

    Above-par issuance is becoming a staple of the European primary ABS market. Deals backed by auto loans, mortgages and credit cards have recently tested the water with this pricing concept, paving the way for other issuers navigating markets in which negative rates prevail.

    "From an issuer perspective, the step was a logical one," says Serdar Ozdemir, director of structured debt .......

    News Analysis 22 November 2016

  • Basel tensions flagged

    Basel Committee discussions next week may expose divisions between national members and lead to further differentiation between the EU and internationally-agreed Basel standards, Fitch suggests. The latest Basel 3 amendments - sometimes referred to as Basel 4 - seek to restrict the use of internal risk models and set overall capital requirements using the revised standardised approaches.

    EU politicians have .......

    News Round-up 21 November 2016

  • Election may yield positive results for SF

    The recent election of a Republican government "should be good for economic growth" and securitisation, with credit spreads benefitting from a tightening bias, according to Wells Fargo structured product analysts. They add that reversing already inked regulations might have a mixed result for structured finance in the US, but that a big fiscal stimulus "may push economic expansion past historic .......

    News 21 November 2016

  • Product development head named

    ICAP has appointed Stuart Connolly as head of client product development for its Post Trade Risk and Information (PTRI) division. In this newly created role, he will report to PTRI ceo Jenny Knott and be based in London.

    Connolly will work with each of ICAP PTRI's businesses to leverage data and develop client data services through the identification of real .......

    Job Swaps 21 November 2016

  • FX issues

    Currency risk hindering Polish mortgage portfolio sales

    Recent speculation that Deutsche Bank could be selling its Polish unit has highlighted the FX issues associated with shedding non-core mortgage assets in the country. Roughly a third of Deutsche Bank Polska's assets are said to be euro- and Swiss franc-denominated mortgages, the sale of which is likely to be challenged by the Polish regulator in an effort to maintain .......

    News Analysis 21 November 2016

  • SCI Start the Week - 21 November

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

    Upcoming SCI event
    SCI's latest Capital Relief Trades Seminar, 'Navigating the Cash vs Synthetic Debate, Weighing the Cost of Capital', is being tomorrow, 22 November, in London. Please email for a conference registration code or click here and follow the link to register.

    The conference programme consists of a series of panel debates, focusing on the structural landscape, .......

    News 21 November 2016

  • Container ABS decline persists

    Container ABS volumes have continued to fall in Q3. This follows sluggish demand for containers, which has provided headwinds for the sector through 2016.

    Container ABS outstandings have fallen to around US$4.8bn, down by nearly US$2.5bn since the end of 2013, according to Wells Fargo figures. Structured product analysts at the bank attribute the decline to a lack of primary .......

    News 18 November 2016

  • First prime HUNT ABS of the year

    Huntington National Bank is in the market with its first prime retail auto ABS issuance of 2016. The US$1.5bn Huntington Auto Trust 2016-1 auto loan ABS is Huntington's eighth standalone retail term securitisation.

    The assets in the deal consist of prime quality retail instalment auto loan contracts, backed by cars, sports utility vehicles and light-duty trucks, all originated by Huntington. .......

    News Round-up 18 November 2016

  • CIRT programme diversifies

    Fannie Mae has completed its tenth Credit Insurance Risk Transfer (CIRT) transaction of 2016. For the first time since the programme's inception, the loan pool covered by the US$11.7bn CIRT 2016-9 deal consists of 15-year and 20-year fixed rate mortgages.

    Fannie Mae says the transaction allows it to offer reinsurers a more diversified investment opportunity. "With CIRT 2016-9, we identified .......

    News Round-up 18 November 2016

  • Counterparty replacement warning

    Pending derivative regulations including swap margin posting requirements are creating uncertainties for both new and existing structured finance transactions, notes Fitch. Scheduled to go into effect in March 2017, the new rules require daily posting of two-way variation margin on affected derivatives.

    While new swaps executed after 1 March 2017 would clearly be affected, Fitch's interpretation of the current proposals .......

    News Round-up 18 November 2016

  • Mutual fund launched

    Palmer Square Capital Management has rolled out its ultra-short duration investment grade strategy in a mutual fund format. The new offering is dubbed Palmer Square Ultra-Short Duration Investment Grade Fund.

    Christopher Long, president of Palmer Square Capital Management, comments: "Given the lack of true ultra-short duration funds, as well as the changes which have occurred with money market funds, we .......

    News Round-up 18 November 2016

  • Navient bonds extended

    Navient has amended the transaction agreements for Navient Trust 2014-8, totalling US$469m of FFELP student loan ABS bonds. The legal final maturity of the deal's A3 tranche has been extended to 2049. The legal final maturity dates on US$7.8bn of bonds from Navient-sponsored FFELP securitisations have been extended since December 2015.

    .......

    News Round-up 18 November 2016

  • Disruptive opportunities

    Bijesh Amin, co-founder of Indus Valley Partners, discusses...

    Alternative asset managers see scope for investment opportunities in structured credit resulting from post-crisis regulatory changes, combined with the emergence of disruptive technologies, such as big data, P2P and AI. However, caveat emptor remains.

    Hedge funds trading structured credit asset classes, such as MBS and ABS, are utilising disruptive technologies to take advantage of opportunities in the sector as a .......

    Talking Point 18 November 2016

  • Fine tailoring

    CLOs to remain buoyant into 2017, despite loan fund competition

    Open-ended loan funds in Europe have grown in volume, attracting institutional investors hungry for yield, while fears over a Fed rate rise has reversed outflows from loan funds in the US. Although loan funds globally could pose a threat to CLOs in terms of issuance and investor appetite, the sector will continue to be buoyed by investors that employ a .......

    News Analysis 18 November 2016

  • US CLOs trundle on

    The US CLO secondary market continues to trundle on in a positive manner albeit without a resurgence in activity.

    "It's stayed quieter this week and certainly any expectation of a post-Trump victory sell-off hasn't materialised," says one trader. "People are looking for volatility before they act, but for now there's none in the CLO space."

    Indeed, the trader continues: "I .......

    SCIWire 17 November 2016

  • Investment firm adds advisors

    Strategic Value Partners has added Goran Puljic and David Weaver to its advisory council. Puljic was previously a partner at Oak Hill Advisors, while Weaver was chairman and ceo of Jefferies International.

    Puljic has 30 years of experience in financial services, mainly in CLOs and structured products. He was co-head of Oak Hill's corporate structured products group until stepping down .......

    Job Swaps 17 November 2016
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