Complete news archive

  • Deal agent rankings assigned

    Morningstar Credit Ratings has assigned two new vendor rankings for the recently created roles of RMBS deal agent and representation and warranty reviewer, becoming the first in the industry to do so. The agency assigned its MOR RV2 residential vendor rankings to Clayton Holdings, a wholly owned subsidiary of Radian Group.

    Morningstar says it is the only rating agency offering .......

    News Round-up 11 May 2016

  • Executive director sought

    The CRE Finance Council has selected Ferguson Partners to manage the search for a new executive director. The position - along with that of deputy executive director - is newly created as part of the association's organisational restructuring

    Mike Flood has already been named as CREFC's new deputy executive director. He was formerly with CREFC and most recently was with .......

    Job Swaps 11 May 2016

  • Credit solutions pro hired

    SCIO Capital has recruited Sebastian Stoecker as director, reporting to business development and investor relations head Jörn Czech. Stoecker will be responsible for deepening dialogues with European institutional investors and delivering bespoke investment solutions. He previously worked in the banks and credit solutions group at Credit Suisse, with a focus on structured credit.

    .......

    Job Swaps 11 May 2016

  • US CLOs ebb and flow

    The mezz rally in the US CLO secondary market halted last week and that part of the capital structure looks set to drift this week as equity paper takes up the slack.

    "It feels like we're in sideways mode today," says one trader. "Secondary volume is lighter across the board this week than it was last week when the mezz .......

    SCIWire 10 May 2016

  • CMBS overvaluation case dropped

    CMBS SPV White Tower 2006-3 has dropped a case against Colliers concerning losses it made on five London-based commercial properties. The real estate agency was accused of overvaluing the properties in a £1.8bn UK office portfolio, which allegedly led to a £39m loss.

    White Tower decided to discontinue its attempts to sue Colliers following the case being at trial in the .......

    News Round-up 10 May 2016

  • IFRS 9 calculation warning

    A recent study undertaken by Kamakura Corporation underlines the risks of using credit spreads to assess obligor creditworthiness in light of the upcoming IFRS 9 implementation and the FASB's current expected credit loss (CECL) model. The findings of the study, entitled 'Fair Value and Expected Credit Loss Estimation', highlight that the common usage of credit spreads - which are derived .......

    News 10 May 2016

  • Low-rated CLO risks downplayed

    Compared to the overall European high yield universe, a relatively small number of low rated CLOs exhibit early warning signs of potential defaults, says Moody's. In total, 23 (58%) of the 40 European CLO-held assets that Moody's has rated B3 or lower show early warning signs of potential default, while 76 (67%) of the 113 such issuers in the overall .......

    News Round-up 10 May 2016

  • Legacy loan ILS hits market

    United Guaranty Corporation (UGC) has obtained US$298.6m in reinsurance coverage for its legacy portfolio book in its latest ILS deal, Bellemeade Re II. The transaction is believed to be the first in the asset class to include a pre-2009 portfolio of mortgage insurance policies.

    UGC, a subsidiary of AIG, is funding its reinsurance obligations through the issuance of three classes of .......

    News Round-up 10 May 2016

  • Insurers' structured holdings slip

    Life insurers held more than US$380bn of structured products securities at the end of 2015, which Wells Fargo analysts note represents a decline of approximately US$20bn from year-end 2014. Insurers' balance sheets actually increased 2%, so the decreased allocation to structured products is even greater on a relative basis.

    As a percentage of total cash and fixed income, structured products' .......

    News 10 May 2016

  • EU CCPs 'resilient'

    ESMA has published the results of its first EU-wide stress test exercise regarding central counterparties (CCPs). The exercise aims to assess the resilience and safety of the European CCP sector, as well as to identify possible vulnerabilities. The results show that the system of EU CCPs can overall be assessed as resilient to the stress scenarios used to model extreme .......

    News Round-up 10 May 2016

  • Renewables partner poached

    David Burton has joined Mayer Brown's tax transactions & consulting practice as a partner in New York. He has decades of experience handling a range of US tax matters, particularly in the renewable energy, equipment leasing and asset-backed finance areas, and will lead the firm's renewable energy group in the New York office.

    Burton joins Mayer Brown from Akin Gump .......

    Job Swaps 10 May 2016

  • Specially serviced loans continue to decline

    The overall share of specially serviced US CMBS conduit loans decreased by 73bp to 6.04% in 1Q16, from 6.77% in 4Q15, according to Moody's latest surveillance review of the sector. The share of specially serviced loans remains 668bp below the April 2011 peak of 12.72%.

    In the first quarter of this year, 14 loans totalling US$1.15bn were modified, up from .......

    News Round-up 10 May 2016

  • UKAR transfer finalised

    Computershare has been appointed to undertake mortgage servicing for UK Asset Resolution, following a competitive tender (SCI 2 February). Around 1700 UKAR staff based in Crossflatts and Doxford in the north of England will transfer to Computershare under the contract, which is expected to commence in mid-2016.

    Following the transfer, Computershare will become the largest third-party mortgage servicer in the .......

    Job Swaps 10 May 2016

  • CIR methodology finalised

    S&P has published its methodology for assigning a rating type specific to the financial obligations that securitisation SPEs enter into with banks or other entities taking on the issuer's credit risk under a contract, such as a swap or liquidity facility. The agency's new counterparty instrument rating (CIR) aims to address an issuer's capacity to meet its financial obligations to .......

    News Round-up 10 May 2016

  • Refi wave loans 'well positioned'

    At its peak, the upcoming US CMBS refinancing wave will see loan maturities exceed US$12bn per month, according to Moody's. Nevertheless, barring significant market disruption, the agency suggests that most of these loans are well positioned to pay off.

    "The US CMBS refinancing wave is now within a few quarters of cresting, when for several months loan maturities will surpass .......

    News Round-up 10 May 2016

  • Euro ABS/MBS starts slow

    It was another slow start to the week for the European ABS/MBS secondary market.

    Yesterday's session followed on from those of the previous week with another day of very light flows. Lack of significant primary activity continues to hold back any potential for secondary momentum, though spreads continue to be stable.

    In the absence of any stronger focus Brexit continues .......

    SCIWire 10 May 2016

  • Production team bolstered

    Greystone has recruited two new executives to its CMBS lending team. Harris Heller, an md based in Philadelphia, and Nicholas Diamond, a director based in New York, both report to the firm's CMBS production head Robert Russell.

    Heller joins Greystone from RAIT Financial Trust, where he most recently served as an md. He has specialised in fixed and floating rate .......

    Job Swaps 10 May 2016

  • Firm foundations

    RMBS breaks records, prepares for post-referendum issuance

    The £6.2bn Towd Point Mortgage Funding 2016-Granite1 RMBS that priced last month is the largest new issue in its sector since before the financial crisis. However, its effect on the market could be revolutionary for a different reason - the introduction in Europe of a weighted average coupon (WAC) cap (SCI 28 April).

    The Towd Point RMBS - arranged by .......

    News Analysis 10 May 2016

  • ILS affirmed on resets

    Fitch has affirmed its ratings on five tranches from four catastrophe bonds - Long Point Re III series 2015-1, Alamo Re 2014-1 and 2015-1, and Cranberry Re. The move follows the agency's annual surveillance review of the notes that includes a scheduled evaluation of the natural catastrophe risk, counterparty exposure, collateral assets and structural performance.

    Fitch believes the notes and .......

    News Round-up 9 May 2016

  • SCI Start the Week - 9 May

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

    Pipeline
    Last week's pipeline additions consisted of eight ABS, two RMBS and a single CMBS.

    The ABS were: US$300m Exeter Automobile Receivables Trust 2016-2; US$1.105bn GM Financial Automobile Leasing Trust 2016-2; US$200m GLS Auto Receivables Trust 2016-1; €153m Master Credit Cards Pass Compartment France Series 2016-1; C$220m Master Credit Card Trust II 2016-2; US$190m New Jersey Higher Education Student .......

    News 9 May 2016

  • US CMBS values change course

    Property values for specially serviced US CMBS fell in 2015, says Fitch. Appraised values for the 495 loans in the Fitch-rated universe fell 0.5%, with retail leading the decline.

    The reduction in appraised values compares to a 1.5% increase in the year before. Retail valuations accounted for 10 of the 15 largest declines.

    Just over half of the loans - .......

    News Round-up 9 May 2016
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