Complete news archive

  • Green power

    Renewables securitisation gaining traction

    A number of initiatives in the US harness securitisation technology to facilitate the growth of the green energy market. The common challenges faced by these efforts are asset scalability and contract standardisation.

    In the context of renewables securitisation, the similarities and differences between assets in a pool need to be as known and as clear as possible, according to Crowell .......

    News Analysis 12 March 2015

  • Euro secondary BWICs surge

    European secondary securitisation markets continue to be focused on BWICs as today sees especially heavy volumes.

    There are already more than ten ABS/MBS BWICs circulating for trade today accounting over a 100 line items. "There is a wide mix of sellers including asset managers and hedge funds across a wide range of assets, plus there are a few CLO lists .......

    SCIWire 12 March 2015

  • US secondary cools down

    After a hectic start to the week US secondary markets have cooled down today.

    "It's a relatively slow day today," says one trader. "We had decent volume yesterday, but that's slipped away today."

    Nevertheless, the recent positive tone remains, the trader suggests. "The market feels in very decent shape and things are looking good for next week - we've had .......

    SCIWire 11 March 2015

  • Russian arrears, defaults to be limited

    Moody's expects any rise in arrears and defaults in Russian securitised mortgage and consumer loans to be limited in 2015. This is despite the looming possibility of a recession of a greater magnitude than that experienced during the 2009 sovereign debt crisis.

    "The underlying loan characteristics support borrowers' ability to repay, with fixed interest rates for life and modest loan-to-value .......

    News Round-up 11 March 2015

  • Consultant director tapped

    CREFC Europe has hired Hans Vrensen as consultant director for research and education. His role will involve sourcing or providing up-to-date industry statistics and research to underpin the organisation's work, with a major additional focus on developing its training and educational offering for those involved in the European CRE lending market.

    Prior to joining CREFC Europe, Vrensen was global head .......

    Job Swaps 11 March 2015

  • Platform adds ratings data

    ClearStructure Financial Technology has made Fitch Solutions' full suite of global credit ratings data available to its clients via the Sentry PM portfolio management platform. The data includes structured finance ratings and will be available on the Sentry platform for asset managers, CLO managers, hedge funds and loan traders.

    .......

    News Round-up 11 March 2015

  • Negative interest rate impact examined

    The increasing prevalence of negative interest rates in Europe - due mainly to extraordinary monetary policy measures - is credit negative for EMEA securitisations, according to Moody's. Sub-zero interest rates introduce negative carry and can potentially reduce credit enhancement if a structure has not already catered for such a situation.

    Most European securitisations do not explicitly cater for sub-zero rates. .......

    News Round-up 11 March 2015

  • New covenant boosts CLO diversity

    Fitch says that the inclusion in recent European CLOs of an additional covenant on the largest ten obligors is credit positive, as they ensure greater portfolio diversity. The covenant should help to mitigate performance volatility, especially during stress periods.

    The additional covenant appears to have been included in structures as market best practice and typically limits CLO exposure to the .......

    News Round-up 11 March 2015

  • Regulatory module included

    Moody's Analytics has added a regulatory module to its Structured Finance Portal. The enhanced tool helps financial institutions assess the potential accounting and regulatory treatment of structured finance securities, including calculating capital ratios and other portfolio metrics, for the Comprehensive Capital Analysis and Review and Dodd-Frank Act stress tests.

    The module is accessible through a customisable web-based interface. It applies .......

    News Round-up 11 March 2015

  • TD rating linkages analysed

    De-linking the credit profile of electricity tariff deficits (TD) securitisations from macroeconomic and regulatory risks is more difficult than for other assets like mortgages or consumer loans, says Fitch. The agency notes that the stronger influence of macroeconomic factors, utility system governance and regulatory risks explains why TD securitisations cannot achieve the maximum six notches above the relevant sovereign rating.

    News Round-up 11 March 2015

  • Solar programme commences

    SCIO Capital has acted as sole arranger and placement agent on the first of a planned series of solar transactions. SCIO Clean Energy 1 is backed by the future operating cashflows generated by a portfolio of solar installations in the UK. The transaction was structured as a pass-through bond with a fixed-rate coupon.

    .......

    News Round-up 11 March 2015

  • MMF restructuring impact eyed

    Federated recently became the second major fund sponsor after Fidelity to announce changes to its money market funds (MMF) to comply with the upcoming US money market reforms. Each of the firms offer a different compliance structure for the industry, but neither approach leaves much room for any ABS investments, according to JPMorgan ABS strategists.

    A-1 rated ABS tranches are .......

    News 11 March 2015

  • Dutch prime slows as CLOs pick up

    European secondary markets continue to see discrete activity with Dutch prime the latest area to see a slowdown as some European CLOs get a boost. Meanwhile, this week's heavy BWIC calendar continues to roll on.

    "The price guidance for the new STORM deal, which is wider than secondary, hasn't pushed spreads wider as some thought but it has put the .......

    SCIWire 11 March 2015

  • Rising tide

    Cat bond trading eyed ahead of hurricane season

    The ILS market benefitted from a relatively strong January, driven by customary early-year adjustments to investor portfolios. Secondary catastrophe bond activity is expected to receive a further boost this month from the burgeoning primary pipeline.

    One of the key portfolio adjustments that investors have been involved in is the rotation between catastrophe bonds and collateralised reinsurance. "There has certainly been .......

    News Analysis 11 March 2015

  • US RMBS looks ahead

    Activity remains strong in the US non-agency RMBS market secondary market, but at the same time participants are keeping an eye on future.

    "We're continuing to see what's now normal BWIC activity," says one trader. At today's open just shy of $500m was in for the bid throughout the day as the market maintains its positive tone.

    At the same time, extraneous .......

    SCIWire 10 March 2015

  • IT exec hired for platform push

    Stonegate Mortgage has hired Douglas Gilmore as cio to lead its IT and technology efforts, including the development of Stonegate Connect. Stonegate Connect is a technology platform that is designed to allow investors to connect with third-party originators, creating an online marketplace that facilitates institutional investment in mortgages and MBS.

    Along with this, Gilmore will oversee all information technology for .......

    Job Swaps 10 March 2015

  • Clearing landscape surveyed

    A lack of understanding about the processes clearinghouses use to manage defaults is contributing to a widespread belief that additional measures are needed to mitigate risk, according to a new Greenwich Associates report on systemic risk and central clearing. Nevertheless, 80% of institutional investors polled believe that mandatory central clearing of derivatives has reduced systemic risk in global financial markets.

    News Round-up 10 March 2015

  • Credit research team bolstered

    Towers Watson has appointed Kate Hollis to its credit research team. The team covers a number of areas, including direct lending and structured credit.

    Hollis joins from S&P Capital IQ, where she was most recently global head of fixed income/alternatives fund research. Prior to that, she worked for various funds of hedge funds and in fixed income sales and trading for .......

    Job Swaps 10 March 2015

  • Pension risk transfer head named

    Prudential Retirement has appointed Scott Kaplan as head of its pension risk transfer team. He will continue to report to Phil Waldeck, head of pension and structured solutions.

    Kaplan previously led risk transfer and risk management strategies for pension plan sponsors as svp and head of global product and market solutions for Prudential's pension and structured solutions business. He also .......

    Job Swaps 10 March 2015

  • STACR yields mapped

    STACR reference pools remain very clean, but the credit scores of the underlying borrowers are migrating lower. Against this backdrop, Morgan Stanley RMBS strategists examine how likely 3.5% of the STACR 2015-DN1 reference pool - equivalent to the B tranche detachment threshold - would be to experience a credit event.

    In the inaugural STACR deal, over 88% of the reference .......

    News Round-up 10 March 2015

  • Euro CLOs stay slow

    The European CLO secondary market is continuing to see limited activity this week.

    "There's still not much going on," says one trader. "What is trading revolves around 2.0 paper, plus some senior 1.0 and junior mezz 1.0."

    The trader continues: "Everything else is at an impasse. That's primarily because we've reached a price versus DM point that means investors realise .......

    SCIWire 10 March 2015
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