Complete news archive

  • Top trades touted

    Morgan Stanley suggests in its global securitised products outlook for 2014 that the market is on the verge of a major transition from being liquidity-driven to being growth-dependent. While the returns are more modest in this scenario than they have been in the past, strategists at the bank believe that alpha opportunities within the sector remain more significant, scalable and .......

    News 11 December 2013

  • Defeasance activity accelerating

    US CMBS defeasance activity accelerated to US$10.1bn by end-November - a 140% jump over the same period a year ago, according to Commercial Real Estate Finance Council (CREFC). The association suggests that this is due to multiple factors, including concern about increased rate volatility, the ongoing stabilisation of property values and the coming expectation of loan maturities.

    Many borrowers appear .......

    News Round-up 10 December 2013

  • Newark eyes eminent domain

    Newark City Council has formally voted to start legal research towards using eminent domain to seize underwater mortgages. Newark accounts for 268 first lien loans in RMBS trusts that are underwater but current, according to Barclays Capital figures.

    The UPB of these loans is US$80m and they are expected to take a US$24m loss if they are written down to .......

    News Round-up 10 December 2013

  • Forward-settling MBS supported

    Northern Trust has enhanced its collateral management system to include forward-settling MBS in response to new margin recommendations. Offered as a component of the firm's investment operations outsourcing for asset managers, the service supports two-way variation margin recommended as of 31 December by the Treasury Market Practices Group (TMPG).

    The forward-settling nature of most agency MBS transactions exposes trading parties .......

    News Round-up 10 December 2013

  • Servicing deficiencies remain

    The latest report from Joseph Smith, a court-appointed monitor of the US$25bn national mortgage settlement, indicates that certain deficiencies remain outstanding in meeting the settlement terms in servicing delinquent mortgage loans. Yet the report also notes that progress is being made to address the issues.

    The monitor used 26 metrics and 304 distinct standards to establish compliance. However, broader servicing .......

    News Round-up 10 December 2013

  • Strong results seen for MBS funds

    Hedge fund returns rose by an average of 1.1% in November, boosting average year-to-date returns to 8.2%, according to the latest eVestment figures. On an annualised basis the industry is on pace to return 9% for the year, nearly 150bp ahead of 2012's 7.5% increase.

    With a 0.35% return, credit strategies lagged the industry's average returns in November, weighed down .......

    News Round-up 10 December 2013

  • CFPB oversight to spur servicer consolidation?

    The seven largest student loan servicers have the capacity to weather the increased operating costs brought on by Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) oversight, according to Fitch. The CFPB oversight applies to non-bank servicers of more than one million accounts.

    The seven largest servicers of federal loan programmes are overseen by the US Department of Education. The CFPB's supervision will .......

    News Round-up 10 December 2013

  • US origination chief makes Japan move

    Citi has appointed Gerald Keefe as corporate bank head in Japan, effective from the start of 2014. He will lead the division and join Citibank Japan's management committee as an executive officer, reporting locally to Kazuya Jono and globally to Michael Roberts.

    Keefe was previously Citi's US head of securitised products origination. Before joining the bank in 2006 he was .......

    Job Swaps 10 December 2013

  • ResCap objections resolved

    Residential Capital expects to exit bankruptcy by 24 December, having resolved bondholder objections to its reorganisation plan. RMBS holders will be paid US$672.3m in rep and warranty recoveries as part of the plan. The RMBS trustees need to appoint a financial adviser to allocate this money among the RFC and GMAC trusts, with the recoveries likely to flow to bondholders .......

    Job Swaps 10 December 2013

  • Record RMBS settlement agreed

    Countrywide Financial Corporation has agreed to pay US$500m to investors who allege that they were misled by the company's sale of RMBS from 2005 to 2007. It is the largest RMBS class action settlement in history.

    Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd represented plaintiffs in the record-breaking case. The class action was launched two years ago (SCI 26 September 2011).

    .......

    Job Swaps 10 December 2013

  • CMBS pro becomes real estate head

    Christian Janssen has joined Henderson Global Investors in London as head of real estate debt. He was previously co-head of commercial real estate lending at Renshaw Bay.

    Janssen has also served as chairman of CREFC Europe and as head of CRE DCM for Europe at Jefferies. He has worked at Barclays Capital in London, Morgan Stanley in London and New .......

    Job Swaps 10 December 2013

  • Euro bank boosts CLO supply

    A plethora of 2005-, 2006- and 2007-vintage bonds circulated in the US CLO secondary market yesterday. Supply was boosted by a bid-list with over 80 cash CLO/CDO items totalling over US$800m in original face value, which is understood to have come from a European bank looking to free up balance sheet.

    Prices observed by SCI's PriceABS data were .......

    Market Reports 10 December 2013

  • Supply up ahead of IABF sale

    Sales from the ING Illiquid Assets Back-up Facility are set to begin with a US$5.1bn list scheduled to trade tomorrow (11 December). The list consists of 316 RMBS bonds that are predominantly backed by 2006 and 2007 option ARM collateral.

    The assets could trade either on a CUSIP level or as an AON, which may allow for broader client participation. .......

    News Round-up 10 December 2013

  • Bondholder communication tool launched

    DealVector has launched InvestorLink, with the aim of streamlining communication in the structured credit markets. Created primarily for issuers, collateral managers and trustees, the service is designed to open a direct communication channel between deal administrators and noteholders.

    Benefits of the service include: accelerated execution of amendments, waivers, consents and other voting events; improved liquidity and transparency; and differentiation for .......

    News Round-up 10 December 2013

  • CMBS surprises in store?

    Deutsche Bank CRE debt research analysts forecast that five scenarios could surprise the US CMBS market next year. These predictions are set against a backdrop of increased investor focus and improving performance across the sector, albeit with potentially disappointing absolute returns.

    The first surprise is the return of multi-billion dollar conduit CMBS, with the number of loans in each deal .......

    News 9 December 2013

  • RMBS call dates extended

    The Langton Securities series 2010-1, 2010-2 and 2011-2 RMBS have been restructured. The restructuring involved extending the call dates and margin step-up dates on six rated notes (2010-1 A5 and A9, 2010-2 A3, and 2011-1 A1, A2 and A7) and two unrated notes (2010-1 Z1 and Z2). The margins paid on the cross-currency swaps for the two euro-denominated notes - .......

    News Round-up 9 December 2013

  • Mezz SME CLO credit risk highlighted

    German mezzanine CLOs face greater credit risk than refinancing risk, Fitch suggests. Defaults during the lifetime of the underlying loans appear to be exceeding defaults at scheduled loan maturity.

    Of the10 Fitch-rated German mezzanine CLOs issued between 2004 and 2007, seven have reached scheduled maturity, making an initial assessment of the relative impact of credit and refinancing risk possible. In .......

    News Round-up 9 December 2013

  • Credit cards outperform expectations

    US credit card ABS collateral again outperformed market expectations during the October collection period. The Fitch Prime 60+ Day Delinquency and Charge-off indices now stand at a record 1.25% and 2.98% respectively.

    The Fitch Prime 60+ Day Delinquency Index now remains nearly 26.5% below November 2012 levels, while the Fitch Prime Charge-off Index level represents a month-on-month decline of 5% .......

    News Round-up 9 December 2013

  • Smaller balance loan transfers rise

    Fitch reports that smaller balance US CMBS loans are increasingly transferring to special servicing. So far this year, 647 loans in the agency's rated universe transferred to special servicing - approximately 100 more than for the same period last year, but by dollar volume the number has declined considerably (US$15.8bn YTD November 2012 versus US$7.5bn in 2013).

    Most transfers to .......

    News Round-up 9 December 2013

  • SCI Start the Week - 9 December

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

    Pipeline
    Over twice as many deals joined the pipeline last week as had done in the week before, although the pace remains slower than it was pre-Thanksgiving. In total, five new ABS, one ILS, two RMBS, five CMBS and two CLOs were announced.

    The ABS new entrants comprised: US$447m Access to Loans for Learning Student Loan Corp 2013-I, US$183m .......

    News 9 December 2013

  • Strong credit quality forecast for global CLOs

    Moody's expects the credit quality of new CLOs in the US, Europe and Asia-Pacific to be strong in 2014. The agency says that the CLO 2.0 template will underpin strong performance in US balance sheet and SME transactions in particular.

    Increased subordination across the two segments is anticipated to offset the negative effects of newly issued loans of lower average .......

    News Round-up 9 December 2013
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