Complete news archive

  • CDX rolls to higher quality

    The Markit CDX IG index is set to roll to series 24 tomorrow (20 March), with four name changes from IG23. Morgan Stanley credit strategists note that the names removed were of meaningfully lower credit quality and had been downgraded to high yield, meaning that on average IG24 should have higher quality and tighter spreads than its predecessor.

    At the .......

    News Round-up 19 March 2015

  • French ABS 'resilient'

    Fitch says that French ABS transactions have shown strong resilience, despite a weak economic environment. This is due to a protective French consumer legislative and regulatory environment and strong structural features that characterise French consumer ABS transactions.

    The last consumer protection measures introduced by the Lagarde law and the Hamon law aimed to limit risk of over-indebtedness and enhance borrowers' .......

    News Round-up 19 March 2015

  • Energy pro tapped for SF role

    SolarCity has hired Marco Krapels as svp of structured finance and strategy. He will report to cfo Brad Buss and oversee the company's project financing division.

    Krapels arrives from Pegasus Capital Advisors, where he was a partner. Prior to that, he was evp with Rabobank, managing various divisions in the bank, including its European corporate debt capital markets group, derivative .......

    Job Swaps 19 March 2015

  • Euro secondary flows building

    Two-way flows in the European secondary securitisation market are continuing to build this week.

    "It's been very busy the last couple of days with a lot of BWICs and we're seeing flows building around that," says one trader. "There's been activity in peripherals, SMEs, UK non-conforming, CMBS - across the board really. Overall, the secondary market is continuing to take .......

    SCIWire 19 March 2015

  • Trustee settlement approved

    New York federal judge Katherine Forrest last week approved the US$69m settlement agreement between the Retirement Fund Investors and Bank of America/US Bank as trustees for 50 RMBS trusts. The ruling should have a significant impact on other pending lawsuits against trustees, according to Deutsche Bank RMBS analysts, including lawsuits against the six largest RMBS trustees by large institutional investors.

    News Round-up 19 March 2015

  • Ocwen terminated on two more trusts

    Wells Fargo, as trustee, last week disclosed that the majority of the investors in the SBR 2004-OP11 and NTIX 2007-HE22 RMBS had voted to terminate Ocwen as a servicer or subservice of the trusts. The current deal balances of SBR 2004-OP1 and NTIX 2007-HE2 are approximately US$79.9m and US$403.6m respectively, according to Deutsche Bank figures. Pursuant to section 7.02 of .......

    News Round-up 19 March 2015

  • MBO for fund services unit

    TMF Custom House management is set to buy back the majority of TMF Group's holdings in the Custom House Fund Services business just over a year after it was sold (SCI 18 February). Subject to regulatory approval, the business will be run as an independent, stand-alone entity by Mark Hedderman, Custom House ceo, and James Osborne, a Custom House director. .......

    Job Swaps 19 March 2015

  • ILS gets Budget boost

    In its 2015 Budget, the UK government announced that it will work with the industry and regulators to develop a new competitive corporate and tax structure for allowing insurance-linked securities to be domiciled in the UK. The move comes after the government said in the Autumn Statement 2014 that it would explore options to attract more reinsurance business to the .......

    News Round-up 19 March 2015

  • Margin framework revised

    The Basel Committee and IOSCO have released revisions to the framework for margin requirements for non-centrally cleared derivatives. The organisations have agreed to delay the implementation of requirements to exchange both initial margin and variation margin by nine months and adopt a phase-in arrangement for the requirement to exchange variation margin.

    The beginning of the phase-in period for collecting and .......

    News Round-up 19 March 2015

  • US CMBS holds firm

    The US non-agency CMBS secondary market is holding firm ahead of today's Federal Reserve statement.

    "We've seen quite a few lists this morning ahead of the Fed," says one trader. "But that aside we're not seeing anything particularly unusual going through."

    Overall, the CMBS market continues with the firm tone of recent weeks. "Secondary spreads are holding steady with a .......

    SCIWire 18 March 2015

  • Scandal spurs record widening

    Five-year CDS on Petroleo Brasileiro (Petrobras) widened by 24% last week to their widest levels ever, according to Fitch Solutions. CDS liquidity for Petrobras has also increased, with contracts currently trading within the second global percentile.

    "CDS widening for Petrobras likely reflects market concerns stemming from the continued delays in publishing its audited fiscal results amid money laundering scandals surrounding .......

    News Round-up 18 March 2015

  • Decentralised servicing presents risks

    Decentralised servicing models in consumer loan ABS increase operational and performance risk in the event that the servicer can no longer perform its function, says Moody's. However, the agency suggests that these models are effective at originating loans, due to the higher level of personal interaction between the branch and the borrower.

    When operating smoothly, decentralised servicing models can help .......

    News Round-up 18 March 2015

  • Leads hired for multi-asset push

    Assenagon has opened a new office in Frankfurt to establish its new multi-asset business. The business will be run by Thomas Romig, head of multi-asset, and Thomas Handte, senior portfolio manager.

    Prior to joining Assenagon, Romig and Handte worked together at Union Investment, where Romig was head of multi-asset management. The new business will complement the existing Assenagon credit and .......

    Job Swaps 18 March 2015

  • Euro mortgage prepays rising

    Fitch reports that borrower prepayments are becoming more common in the European mortgage markets. The drivers of rising prepayment rates vary across markets and include attractive alternative mortgage products in the UK, Belgium and Italy, the repurchase of mortgages by originators in Spain and regulatory measures in the Netherlands.

    In all, 10 of the 11 European markets covered by Fitch's .......

    News Round-up 18 March 2015

  • Euro primary drives secondary

    The European secondary securitisation markets are being driven by new issuance activity

    "We're taking our direction from the primary market, but secondary tone remains positive," says one trader. "For example, the initial wider guidance on the latest Paragon deal weakened secondary buy-to-let, but the deal priced tighter and then tightened on the break yesterday causing secondary spreads in the sector .......

    SCIWire 18 March 2015

  • US CLO rally keeps rolling

    Despite a robust primary market and a pick-up in secondary activity from with eight BWICs circulating, the US CLO rally is continuing today.

    "It's a very robust market with 2.0 paper in strong demand and we keep seeing new tights," says one trader. "This morning has been no different - for example, on the 9:00 double-B list, ALM 2013-7R2A D .......

    SCIWire 17 March 2015

  • CLO purchasing powered

    Volta Finance has entered into a US$30m repurchase agreement with SG, under which the company has the facility to borrow US$30m that will be collateralised against some of its US dollar CLO assets. The proceeds will principally be used to purchase debt tranches of CLOs.

    The company intends to increase the amount available under similar repo transactions by a further .......

    Job Swaps 17 March 2015

  • SF vet poached for Italian expansion

    Stormharbour Securities has hired Michele Rolleri as a partner and md. He will focus on expanding the firm's presence in the Italian market, which will include advising on securitisation.

    Before joining Stormharbour, Rolleri was a board member and co-head of capital market commission at Assiom Forex. Prior to this, he was managing partner for Eidos, where he specialised in structured .......

    Job Swaps 17 March 2015

  • Gleacher investigation disclosed

    Gleacher & Company's board has determined to make a second liquidating distribution to company stockholders in the amount of US$0.50 per share of its common stock, which is approximately US$3.1m in the aggregate. The reduced distribution mainly reflects the company's evaluation of matters surrounding companion subpoenas issued by the US SEC and CFTC.

    In their subpoenas, the regulators primarily seek .......

    Job Swaps 17 March 2015

  • ResCap distribution due

    The ResCap liquidating trust is set to distribute US$2 per unit to unit holders on 31 March. Covered RMBS trusts own almost 26 million units and will consequently receive a US$51.9m cash payment in the April remittance, according to Barclays Capital figures.

    The move marks the fourth distribution from the ResCap liquidating trust, which has previously made payments totalling US$20.3 .......

    News Round-up 17 March 2015

  • Rolling the dice

    Corporate bond reinvented?

    A new financial innovation is causing a buzz in the credit derivatives markets by isolating credit risk while providing high returns. The ebond, short for enhanced bond, seeks to achieve this by embedding a cleared CDS into a corporate bond to produce a hybrid security.

    "The concept is simple, when compared to some other structured products," explains Assia Damianova, special .......

    News Analysis 17 March 2015
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