Complete news archive

  • US RMBS quietens down for now

    In contrast to last week's bumper levels of activity the US non-agency RMBS market is fairly quiet this week, but higher volumes are expected to return next.

    BWICs only totalled $300m yesterday and look set to be about the same today. The rest of the week is expected to continue that trend thanks to both Thursday's holiday and predictions of .......

    SCIWire 25 November 2014

  • CBRC actions 'positive' for card ABS

    The China Banking Regulatory Commission's (CBRC) decision to fine seven banks for violations in their credit card businesses signals its intent to tighten underwriting and risk management standards among commercial banks, according to Fitch. This is positive for the performance of credit card portfolios and future credit card ABS in China, as it indicates that the regulator is moving pre-emptively .......

    News Round-up 25 November 2014

  • Basel leverage ratio challenged

    FIA Global has sent a letter to the Basel Committee urging the committee to consider how segregated margin is treated in the leverage calculations that determine bank capital requirements. FIA was joined on the letter by two other global trade associations - the World Federation of Exchanges and CCP12 - as well as four global central clearing counterparties: ICE, CME .......

    News Round-up 25 November 2014

  • Reinsurance merger agreed

    Platinum Underwriters and RenaissanceRe have entered a merger agreement under which RenaissanceRe will acquire Platinum. Under the terms of the transaction, the common shareholders of Platinum will receive US$1.16bn of cash and 7.5 million RenaissanceRe common shares with an approximate value of US$76 per share, or approximately US$1.9bn in aggregate, representing a 24% premium to Platinum's closing price.

    At closing, .......

    Job Swaps 25 November 2014

  • CCP adequacy principles released

    ISDA has published a set of key principles on the adequacy and structure of central counterparty (CCP) loss-absorbing resources, and on CCP recovery and resolution. The paper identifies the key issues that need to be addressed and makes several recommendations on how to proceed.

    ISDA suggests that the practices, standards and methodologies used by CCPs to size their loss-absorbing resources .......

    News Round-up 25 November 2014

  • Direct lending fund closed

    Alcentra has raised €850m at the close of the Alcentra European Direct Lending Fund. With the closing of the fund, the firm's committed capital for the strategy now exceeds €1.5bn.

    The focus of the fund is to provide debt financing to middle market companies in Europe. Alcentra has been sourcing and arranging financings to middle market businesses in Europe since .......

    News Round-up 25 November 2014

  • Whole tranche auction due

    A BWIC consisting of the whole of MECEN 3 A due to trade at 14:00 London time today is attracting the attention of plenty of market participants.

    The previously retained €401.3m Italian RMBS tranche now has a current size of €94.755m. The former triple-A and now double-A bond is being talked at round about 99.

    .......

    SCIWire 25 November 2014

  • Actual loss credit offering prepped

    Freddie Mac has added loan-level actual loss data to its single family loan-level historical dataset. The aim is to provide an expanded view of credit risk, paving the way for continued growth and evolution of the GSE's credit risk offerings.

    "Having data openly available in the marketplace allows us to expand the amount of risk transferred to private investors," says .......

    News Round-up 25 November 2014

  • CLO retention relief sought

    The LSTA has filed suit against the US Fed and SEC, seeking relief for CLOs from the final risk retention rule and "to protect an important source of financing for American companies". The association says that it and the industry strongly believe that the agencies did not fulfil their legal responsibilities when finalising the rule.

    It adds that the move .......

    News Round-up 25 November 2014

  • Still no big ABSPP trades

    European ABS/MBS spreads are holding firm as the market continues to wait on significant ECB buying.

    "Spreads are staying stable as the market continues to expect the ECB to start buying in size, but every day seems to bring with it another day's delay," says one trader. "They bought some Arena in the primary market yesterday, but we haven't seen .......

    SCIWire 25 November 2014

  • New broom

    Mount Street managing partner and ceo Ravi Joseph and director Jonathan Banks answer SCI's questions

    Q: How and when did Mount Street become involved in the securitisation market?
    RJ: Mount Street is an amalgam of a couple of different businesses. We began taking on servicing assignments about two years ago and this business has grown quickly around the emergence of non-bank lenders, most of whom choose to outsource their servicing requirements.

    We then acquired the Frankfurt .......

    Provider Profile 24 November 2014

  • Trups flurry expected to trade well

    The appearance of three Trups CDO BWICs due today has re-focused traders' attention on the asset class. All bonds are expected to trade well.

    The first list was due at 10:00 New York time and contained €60m of original face of DEKAE III-X A1 and $10m of TPREF 2 B. "It'll be interesting to see who is in a position .......

    SCIWire 24 November 2014

  • ABSPP 'hinges' on mezz purchases

    The ability of the ECB's ABSPP to provide capital relief to eurozone banks could hinge on its plans to buy mezzanine tranches, says Fitch. The capital impact of the ABSPP purchases at different parts of the capital structure will vary with jurisdiction, underlying assets and the originating banks' approach to calculating credit risk.

    Fitch looked at three hypothetical structured finance .......

    News Round-up 24 November 2014

  • Cell tower auctions 'credit positive'

    The US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) last week completed 27 rounds of Auction 97, its ongoing wireless spectrum license auction, having received bids from 70 participants totalling US$33bn. The bids received are well beyond the FCC's aggregate reserve price of US$10.6bn and industry estimates of US$15bn.

    Moody's says in its latest Credit Outlook publication that the auction results thus far .......

    News Round-up 24 November 2014

  • Transferred loan sizes increasing

    While the dollar volume of US CMBS loans transferring into special servicing has remained stable year-over-year, loan sizes are increasing, according to Fitch. Approximately US$6.8bn transferred into special servicing in the Fitch-rated universe through October 2014, consistent with year-to-date October 2013. However, by count 2014 had less transfers at 441 loans compared to 573 in 2013.

    The average loan size .......

    News Round-up 24 November 2014

  • European CMBS sees selective trading

    After the flurry of BWICs in the first half of last week the European CMBS market has quietened down. However, there is still selective activity off-BWIC.

    "It's very quiet overall, particularly today," says one trader. "But we're seeing renewed interest from end-accounts in putting on trades in the CMBS space that are attractive from a yield perspective versus what can .......

    SCIWire 24 November 2014

  • BGC bid extended

    BGC Partners has extended the expiration date of its tender offer to acquire all of the outstanding shares of GFI Group that it does not currently own. The offer is now scheduled to expire on 9 December, having previously been scheduled to expire on 19 November.

    As of 19 November, approximately 23.2 million shares were tendered pursuant to the offer. .......

    Job Swaps 24 November 2014

  • RPL approach finalised

    Fitch has finalised its approach for rating RMBS backed by re-performing (RPL) and seasoned mortgage loan collateral. The criteria have not materially changed from those proposed by the agency in August (SCI 12 August).

    Under the criteria, the agency analyses the key risk drivers of the RPL asset class using its mortgage loan loss model, as well as existing rep .......

    News Round-up 24 November 2014

  • SCI Start the Week - 24 November

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

    Pipeline
    A lot of deals joined the pipeline in the last full week before Thanksgiving. Unlike previous weeks it was not ABS leading the way - there were two new ABS deals added, along with two ILS, six RMBS, seven CMBS and six CLOs.

    US$159m DFCF 2014-1 and €800m FTA Santander Consumer Spain Auto 2014-1 were the two ABS. They were .......

    News 24 November 2014

  • Euro ABS/MBS wants more

    The ECB began ABSPP buying on Friday, but the European ABS/MBS market is still waiting for more action.

    "The ECB bought some Dutch RMBS on Friday, but thus far there's been no follow up trading," says one trader. "No volume has yet been reported on the Dutch RMBS purchases, but our sense is they weren't huge, so the market is .......

    SCIWire 24 November 2014

  • US CLOs closing out

    Year-end is at the forefront of US CLO traders' thoughts, but that's not to say the market is quiet.

    "We saw robust volume yesterday and it's very busy for a Friday today, especially in 1.0 deals, with a high proportion of lists overall from non-bank entities," says one trader. "We're also seeing sales of quite a few tranches that are .......

    SCIWire 21 November 2014
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