Complete news archive

  • NY broker settles SEC charges

    The US SEC has charged Rafferty Capital Markets with illegally facilitating trades for another firm that was not registered as a broker-dealer as required under federal law. Rafferty has agreed to settle the charges by disgorging profits and paying a penalty for a total of nearly US$850,000.

    The SEC alleges that Rafferty agreed to serve as the broker-dealer of record .......

    Job Swaps 16 May 2014

  • Global SEF, MTF launched

    ICAP's UK subsidiary, ICAP Global Derivatives Limited (IGDL), has launched after receiving temporary swap execution facility (SEF) approval from the US CFTC. IGDL is the first global SEF and multilateral trading facility (MTF), regulated by both the CFTC and the UK Financial Conduct Authority.

    With this dually-regulated entity, market participants from all key jurisdictions can participate in the same global .......

    News Round-up 16 May 2014

  • EFH auctions due

    Separate auctions have been scheduled on 21 May to settle the credit derivative trades for four Energy Future Holdings entities - Texas Competitive Electric Holdings Company, EFIH Finance Inc, Energy Future Intermediate Holding Company and Energy Future Holdings Corp. The move comes after a bankruptcy credit event was declared in respect of the entities earlier this month (SCI 1 May).

    .......

    News Round-up 16 May 2014

  • Johnson-Crapo bill passes Committee

    The US Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs has passed S.1217, the Housing Finance Reform and Taxpayer Protection Act, by a vote of 13-9. Two manager's amendments, no. 2 and no. 98, passed the Committee to amend the bill. But an amendment that would prohibit federal entities from purchasing or insuring mortgage loans in municipalities that use eminent .......

    News Round-up 16 May 2014

  • Turning tide?

    ECB attitude shift provides securitisation lift

    The re-emergence of the European securitisation market has been helped by initiatives like the European DataWarehouse (SCI passim). This process could be set for greater impetus from the ECB, particularly if a high quality securitisation (HQS) label is introduced.

    The build-out of the European DataWarehouse (ED) has been a key development in the market post-financial crisis. Despite some initial scepticism, .......

    News Analysis 16 May 2014

  • Stuy Town news sparks rally

    US CMBS bonds with exposure to the US$3bn Stuyvesant Town-Peter Cooper Village loan rallied yesterday on reports that Fortress is readying a US$4.7bn bid for the asset, while CWCapital may initiate a mezzanine foreclosure. If these moves materialise, the five transactions in which the loan is securitised are expected to take little - if any - A-note losses upon its .......

    News Round-up 15 May 2014

  • Hillshire CDS spikes on acquisition

    The Hillshire Brands Co five-year CDS widened by 55% on Monday, according to Fitch Solutions. The move was driven by the food company's definitive agreement to acquire Pinnacle Foods Inc for US$6.6bn. Hillshire intends to finance the purchase with US$4.8bn of incremental debt and the issuance of US$2.1bn of equity.

    After steadily pricing in line with triple-B levels for the .......

    News Round-up 15 May 2014

  • Private SLABS index launched

    Fitch has rolled out the latest of its series of structured finance index reports - a US Private Student Loan ABS Index. The report - which tracks delinquency and default rates for private student loan ABS, as well as new issuance trends - is updated quarterly.

    An improving economy is positioning US private student loan ABS for a more stable .......

    News Round-up 15 May 2014

  • Tariff deficit criteria finalised

    Fitch has released its new criteria for rating Portuguese and Spanish electricity tariff deficit (TD) securitisations, following the publication of an exposure draft (SCI 4 March). There are no rating implications for existing TD securitisations as the criteria framework broadly reflects analytical practices that the agency has already followed when rating these transactions.

    Fitch believes that the ratings of TD .......

    News Round-up 15 May 2014

  • Aussie repayment rates examined

    Fitch has introduced new indices to monitor Australian repayment rates in securitised prime mortgages. The Australian mortgage market has been characterised by higher prepayment rates compared to other countries, which in turn have led to fast amortisation of Australian prime RMBS transactions.

    Over the past decade, Australian prepayment rates have ranged from 15%-25%, according to Fitch. Overseas, this rate has .......

    News Round-up 15 May 2014

  • Rates encourage CMBS prepays

    US CMBS loans have experienced an increase in the number of early prepayments with defeasance or yield maintenance recently. Forward rate expectations are a strong driver of such activity, but higher penalty payments have dampened cash-out refinancings.

    Early prepayment volumes are still a long way off the levels seen in 2005-2007, when the gross WAC for new CMBS originations increased .......

    News 15 May 2014

  • Hedge fund AUM hits highs

    Investors allocated heavily into hedge funds in April, the third consecutive month of elevated inflows, according to eVestment. The US$17.9bn of new capital added offset the slight asset-weighted performance declines and pushed the industry's AUM to an all-time high of US$2.94trn.

    Credit fund flows were positive but near flat for the second consecutive month, albeit AUM remains at an all-time .......

    News Round-up 15 May 2014

  • Mortgage trading platform launched

    Third-party mortgage administration firm HML has launched the Asset Trading Solutions service, which is aimed at investors that are looking to acquire, manage or sell a performing or distressed mortgage portfolio and maximise its value. The platform supports the entire process of asset trading - from sourcing assets and analysing any associated risks to migrating portfolios and servicing customers effectively .......

    News Round-up 15 May 2014

  • Multi-borrower SFR concerns outlined

    Credit concerns related to single-family rental (SFR) securitisations backed by loans to multiple borrowers will differ in several important respects from the single-borrower SFR transactions that have recently been issued, according to Moody's. Such deals - especially when backed by loans to many small borrowers, each of which owns only a few properties - will likely exhibit less default volatility .......

    News Round-up 15 May 2014

  • New leadership for GFMA

    The GFMA has appointed Samir Assaf as chair and Kenneth Bentsen as ceo. Assaf will serve as chair for a term of two years, while Bentsen will serve a three-year term.

    Assaf replaces Blythe Masters, while Bentsen replaces Simon Lewis. Both Masters and Lewis have been in their posts for two years.

    Assaf is chief executive of global banking and .......

    Job Swaps 15 May 2014

  • ABS activity leans on auto supply

    US ABS bid-list activity picked up yesterday on the back of higher auto and student loan supply. BWIC volume was around US$120m, with auto names accounting for half of the tranches captured by SCI's PriceABS data.

    Among the auto ABS out for the bid yesterday were three AFIN tranches, including AFIN 2014-1 A1A, which was covered at plus .......

    Market Reports 15 May 2014

  • CMBS payments imply unique structure

    The most recent payment report for European CMBS Infinity Soprano shows that the transaction amortised by €31.8m on the May IPD. In an unusual development, proceeds from two EHE loans that failed to pay in January (SCI 28 January) are continuing to be passed through to noteholders.

    Redemption proceeds were applied modified pro-rata, with the pro-rata portion correcting a previous .......

    News 15 May 2014

  • Clearing execution agreement released

    ISDA and FIA Europe have published the ISDA/FIA Europe Cleared Derivatives Execution Agreement for principal-to-principal client clearing. The document is designed to be used as a template for market participants when negotiating execution agreements under English law for swaps that are intended to be cleared by central counterparties located outside of the US.

    The agreement was developed with the assistance .......

    News Round-up 15 May 2014

  • EODs unlikely for CLO 2.0s

    Moody's reports in its latest CLO Interest publication that a review of 52 US broadly syndicated loan (BSL) CLO 2.0s has reinforced its opinion that such deals are even less likely to default than CLO 1.0 transactions due to a number of credit-positive structural features. In particular, CLO 2.0s limit the likelihood of an overcollateralisation-based EOD by establishing a substantial .......

    News Round-up 14 May 2014

  • Store closures unlikely to hit CMBS

    A flurry of in-line tenant store closures in the US could further weaken some already underperforming malls, especially those in tertiary locations, Fitch says. However, the store closures are unlikely to have a significant impact on the performance of Fitch-rated CMBS.

    The majority of the store closing announcements made thus far in 2014 are associated with smaller-sized tenants. These retailers .......

    News Round-up 14 May 2014

  • Tightening seen in risk-sharing bonds

    CAS and STACR spreads continued to grind tighter last week, with M2 classes hovering at 225bp-250bp and STACR M3s reaching new tights, coming in by about 20bp-25bp to 288bp-291bp. All classes from the risk-sharing RMBS are now trading above par and some earlier M2 classes are trading at significant premiums.

    Secondary trading volumes of risk-sharing bonds rose by 60% month-on-month .......

    News Round-up 14 May 2014
×