Complete news archive

  • RFC issued on QM approach

    Moody's is requesting comment from market participants on its proposed approach to evaluating incremental risks of qualified and non-qualified mortgage loans in its ratings of US RMBS. The agency notes that the US Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's ability-to-repay (ATR) rules, which established the qualified mortgage (QM) category, create incentives that could lead to incremental risks for RMBS trusts.

    "The broad .......

    News Round-up 26 March 2014

  • Reinsurance pro takes new role

    Hannover Life Reassurance Company of America has appointed Keith Kennerly as structured health and financial solutions vp. He will be based in New York and take responsibility for sourcing and originating new health financing opportunities.

    Kennerly was previously at Aetna where he focused on reinsurance and securitisation, including execution and management of medical loss ratio securitisations. He has also worked .......

    Job Swaps 26 March 2014

  • Standard Life to buy fund manager

    Standard Life Investments is buying Phoenix Group Holdings' asset management business, Ignis Asset Management, for £390m. The combined business will offer a full range of investment solutions.

    The acquisition will strengthen Standard Life's investment capabilities and broaden its third-party client base. As part of the transaction, it will enter into a strategic alliance with Phoenix to provide asset management services .......

    Job Swaps 26 March 2014

  • FFELP SLABS affirmed

    Fitch has affirmed 778 triple-A rated tranches of US FFELP student loan ABS, removed the ratings from rating watch negative and assigned them a stable outlook. The move follows the affirmation of the US sovereign rating and revision of its outlook to stable on 21 March.

    The ratings on the effected tranches are linked to the US sovereign rating, since .......

    News Round-up 25 March 2014

  • OTC clearing leader added

    Newedge has appointed Mark Gonzalez as head of OTC clearing sales for the Americas. He will be based in New York and report to Adam Cohen.

    Gonzalez was previously at BNY Mellon Clearing, where he was global coo and head of sales, providing services in the listed and OTC derivatives market to institutional clients. He has also worked at Ardmore .......

    Job Swaps 25 March 2014

  • Liquidation values surpass appraisals

    This quarter marks the first time that average US commercial property liquidation proceeds have been higher than corresponding appraisal values. Looking beyond the averages, variation in proceeds is evident based on sector, location and time since appraisal.

    Over the past two years the discount by which properties sold for less than their appraisal value has been declining, Barclays Capital CMBS .......

    News 25 March 2014

  • Positioning for basis normalisation

    The investment grade CDS-cash basis remains very negative in the US and positive in Europe. With this discrepancy expected to improve over time, selling iTraxx Main protection to buy CDX.IG protection appears attractive.

    Based on an analysis of the CDS-cash basis differential across Europe and the US, Barclays Capital credit strategists find that CDS spreads are wider in Europe than .......

    News 25 March 2014

  • CMBS origination pro added

    Greystone has appointed Patrick Nizich as an md in its new Kirkland, Washington office. His appointment follows the recent addition of Matt Stevens (SCI 19 February) and he will report to senior md Rick Wolf, who leads Greystone's West Coast production team.

    Nizich has over 25 years of commercial real estate experience and was most recently at Dexia Real Estate .......

    Job Swaps 25 March 2014

  • ABS CDO on the block

    An auction has been scheduled for Dekania CDO II on 9 May. The securities will only be sold if the proceeds are at least equal to the total redemption amount. The auction call redemption date is currently expected to be 23 May.

    .......

    News Round-up 25 March 2014

  • A new era in structured trade receivables finance?

    Reed Smith partner Nick Stainthorpe discusses new investors,...

    The increased interest from alternative investors in trade receivables is the result of a number of factors. These include: the high asset prices/low yields being experienced in other asset classes; the wariness of corporates to rely on a single source of supply chain/receivables finance in the post-crisis environment; on-going credit shortages in this sector in countries like Italy, Greece and .......

    Talking Point 25 March 2014

  • iTraxx changes implemented

    The Markit iTraxx Crossover index expanded to 60 names in the roll to Series 21, reflecting the expanding high yield market in Europe (SCI 13 February). The move is expected to provide a better portfolio hedge for cash portfolios and a better short than XO20 in relative value trades.

    Five constituents moved out of the Crossover index (Eileme 2, PostNL, .......

    News 24 March 2014

  • Italian ABS framework extended

    The Italian government's December Decree (SCI 19 December 2013) has been converted into law and published in the Italian Official Gazette, with some additional amendments. The decree seeks to address certain issues that have to date remained open under the original formulation of Law 130, the country's securitisation framework.

    As originally adopted, Law 130 expressly provides its benefits to transactions .......

    News Round-up 24 March 2014

  • SCI Start the Week - 24 March

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

    Pipeline
    In a departure from the typical weekly pattern, additions to the pipeline last week were dominated by RMBS names. Four new RMBS were announced, as well as just one ABS, two CMBS and two CLOs.

    The RMBS were: US$513m Colony American Homes 2014-1; the re-offered €550m Quadrivio RMBS 2011; US$487m Sequoia Mortgage Trust 2014-1; and ZAR1.023bn Thekwini 11 .......

    News 24 March 2014

  • Reinsurance broker adds advisory head

    JLT Towers Re has appointed Bart Zanelli as head of advisory for North America. He will help to develop the business in the region and work closely with md Craig Darling and strategic capital director Aaron Cubbison.

    Zanelli was previously at GC Securities, where his role included executing and closing numerous transactions relating to financing and securitisations of insurance funding .......

    Job Swaps 24 March 2014

  • Credit Suisse settles PLS charges

    Credit Suisse and related companies have settled private-label mortgage-backed (PLS) securities fraud charges with the FHFA for US$885m. The settlement resolves all of the FHFA's claims against Credit Suisse in the FHFA's lawsuit against the bank as well as all claims against it in the FHFA's lawsuit against Ally Financial.

    The PLS were purchased by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac .......

    Job Swaps 24 March 2014

  • Key man replaced

    Paul Carman has been replaced by Peter Goody as a key person on the Harvest CLO II transaction. Moody's has determined that the move will not cause the ratings on the notes to be reduced or withdrawn.

    .......

    Job Swaps 24 March 2014

  • Continued stability in CMBS

    The recent stability in the US CMBS secondary market continued yesterday with BWIC volume steady at around US$380m. Generic spreads were unchanged with SCI's PriceABS data showing a number of mezzanine tranches from various vintages out for the bid.

    PriceABS captured more than 40 unique US CMBS tranches from the session. Much of the supply came .......

    Market Reports 21 March 2014

  • Volcker exception 'credit positive'

    Regulators have exempted Trups CDOs from the Volcker Rule (SCI 15 January). They will thus avoid the credit negative impact that the rule's implementation would have had on banks which invest in them.

    Without the exemption, institutions holding bank Trups CDOs would have been required to sell off their holdings by July 2015 and suffer a potentially severe decrease in .......

    News Round-up 21 March 2014

  • ISDA changes 'CDS positive'

    Significant changes to ISDA's credit derivatives definitions will benefit the CDS market, says Moody's. ISDA's changes address sovereign credit events and government-initiated bail-ins and will apply to all new transactions.

    The changes will eliminate settlement ambiguities and improve pricing transparency in new corporate synthetic debt obligations (CSOs), but will have no material impact on existing transactions, says the agency. The .......

    News Round-up 21 March 2014

  • Euro CMBS servicing progress made

    While there was just one European CMBS loan newly transferred into special servicing last month, it was not the only significant development. Moody's reports that there were 167 loans in total in special servicing at the end of the month, securitised within 91 CMBS.

    The €22m Jargonnant Munich Loan transferred because of payment default at maturity, which is the most .......

    News Round-up 21 March 2014

  • Investors eye esoteric additions

    Esoterics provide investors with the most upside within ABS, according a DBRS survey. By contrast, consumer and commercial ABS yields are expected to remain extremely low over the next 12 months.

    Esoteric ABS - including container, timeshare, whole business and franchise loans, structured settlements and solar and renewables securities - was selected by more than half of respondents as the .......

    News Round-up 21 March 2014
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