Complete news archive

  • Credit hedge fund performance lagging

    Credit hedge funds performed well last month, but are struggling to post returns of even half of the level seen in 2012, according to eVestment. The firm estimates that MBS-focused funds, in particular, are on pace for their worst year since the financial crisis.

    Credit strategies appeared to benefit from the reversal of the 10-year US Treasury rate climb in .......

    News Round-up 11 October 2013

  • Agency accused of misleading investors

    Acting New Jersey Attorney General John Hoffman has filed a lawsuit against S&P charging that the company misled consumers about the independence and objectivity of its ratings. The suit also charges the rating agency with using outdated analytic models in order to maximise market share and profits.

    The suit alleges S&P's structured finance ratings were driven by the agency's revenue .......

    Job Swaps 11 October 2013

  • SWS adds CMBS pro

    Kurt Kaline has joined Southwest Securities' taxable fixed income division. He joins as svp for CMBS trading.

    Kaline has more than 16 years of CMBS and CRE experience and was most recently at Brean Capital. He has also worked for Sterne Agee, Winthrop Realty Partners, ABN Amro and Nomura and will be based in New York.

    .......

    Job Swaps 11 October 2013

  • UROPA 2007-1 redenominated

    The UROPA Securities 2007-1 class A4B tranche has been redenominated from euro to sterling, with the underlying currency swap cancelled as a result. The outstanding balance now stands at £12.186m (as opposed to €18m previously) and the interest rate margin is 28.15bp over Libor (compared to 25bp over Euribor).

    .......

    News Round-up 11 October 2013

  • Broker targets international expansion

    Sterne Agee is set to acquire London-based Yorvik Partners, establishing its first overseas office. The company intends to continue to expand its services internationally and devote more resources to the European market.

    Yorvik ceo Simon Mullaly will become Sterne Agee's head of international credit. Mullaly previously managed trading desks for Deutsche Bank and Lehman Brothers in London, specialising in distressed .......

    Job Swaps 11 October 2013

  • NYCRS cio to join credit specialist

    New York City Retirement Systems asset management deputy comptroller and cio Lawrence Schloss is joining Angelo Gordon as president. He will become a partner in the firm, further expanding the investment expertise at the credit and real estate manager.

    .......

    Job Swaps 11 October 2013

  • Sovereign risk still weighing on periphery

    European peripheral ABS and RMBS are more sensitive to a further potential increase in sovereign risk than to asset pool deterioration, Moody's suggests. Specifically, the agency points to further increases in sovereign risk or weakening of the credit profiles of financial counterparties over the next 18 months as being the main drivers of negative credit migration for Irish RMBS, as .......

    News Round-up 11 October 2013

  • Card MPRs hit record high

    US credit card ABS monthly payment rates (MPRs) for September set a record high, reaching 26.27% in 3Q13, according to Fitch's latest quarterly index for the sector. This comes as charge-off and delinquency levels saw the fourth straight quarterly decline.

    "Credit card debt borrowers are of overall higher-quality and are steadily making on-time payments, as the record high MPR seems .......

    News Round-up 11 October 2013

  • Minimal losses seen in Canadian CMBS

    Canadian CMBS exhibit a low rate of default, with only 71 of the nearly 3,700 securitised loans either delinquent and/or transferred to a special servicer. This represents a 1.9% cumulative default rate, according to a Fitch study of 70 transactions totalling C$25.4bn.

    Of the 71 defaulted Canadian CMBS loans, 35 have not seen any losses, while nine additional loans saw .......

    News Round-up 11 October 2013

  • Tighter pricing expected for CAS

    Structural differences between Fannie Mae's upcoming CAS 2013-C01 and Freddie Mac's STACR deal should lead to tighter pricing on the former transaction. Based on a Deutsche Bank analysis, the Fannie senior mezzanine class could price 25bp-50bp inside the STACR M1 class.

    One key difference between the CAS and STACR deals is that the CAS M1 tranche is rated (triple-B minus .......

    News 10 October 2013

  • ABS activity accelerates post-conference

    Yesterday's US ABS BWIC volume was almost double the previous session's, surpassing US$100m. SCI's PriceABS data shows that the surge in secondary supply was supported by a slew of student loan bonds.

    The student loan ABS paper out for the bid yesterday was largely concentrated in 2005-vintage names, although tranches ranged from 2004 to 2007. Many of the .......

    Market Reports 10 October 2013

  • US RMBS criteria updated

    Fitch has published an annual update to its US RMBS criteria. While the framework of the methodology remains unchanged, the loss and cashflow methodology has been revised for manufactured housing, small-balance CMBS, scratch and dent, HELOC and second lien products.

    Collectively, these product types comprise less than 10% of the agency's rated RMBS transactions. Fitch says it does not expect .......

    News Round-up 10 October 2013

  • Aussie IEO exposure examined

    Use of the Australian Bureau of Statistics' Index of Education and Occupation (IEO) shows that regions most disadvantaged in these categories are most vulnerable to a rise in mortgage delinquencies during an economic downturn, according to Moody's.

    "IEO is important because it complements the key metric of loan-to-value ratios (LVR) as an indicator of a region's vulnerability to increased delinquencies .......

    News Round-up 10 October 2013

  • Call for improved noteholder communications

    Fitch says that investors should be consulted regarding proposed changes to structured finance (SF) transactions and covered bond (CVB) programmes in which they are invested. Instead, for the most part, trustees or issuers continue to make decisions on proposed changes based solely on rating agency confirmations (see also SCI 2 August).

    "Ratings do not address all issues that investors are .......

    News Round-up 10 October 2013

  • Due diligence guide published

    CREFC Europe has published its 'Due Diligence Guide on Real Estate in the UK'. The guide considers due diligence primarily in the context of a loan to be secured on UK real estate and provides an overview of the main issues that should be addressed.

    Peter Denton, incoming chairman of CREFC Europe, comments: "This guide will provide a starting point .......

    News Round-up 10 October 2013

  • Codere results in

    The final price of CODERE Fin LUXEMBOURG SA CDS was determined to be 54.5 at yesterday's auction. Twelve dealers submitted initial markets, physical settlement requests and limit orders to the auction to settle trades across the market referencing the entity.

    .......

    News Round-up 10 October 2013

  • Set-off methodology released

    Moody's has published a consolidated cross-sector methodology report detailing its approach to assessing set-off risk for EMEA securitisation and covered bond transactions. The move follows the agency's request for feedback on its proposed approach (SCI 10 July).

    The approach is primarily concerned with set-off in relation to bank deposits, which Moody's generally determines in light of the relevant deposit guarantee .......

    News Round-up 10 October 2013

  • IFMI consolidates subsidiaries

    Institutional Financial Markets (IFMI) is consolidating its registered broker-dealer subsidiaries - C&Co/PrinceRidge and JVB Financial Group - into a single broker-dealer. The unified subsidiary will operate under the JVB Financial brand.

    IFMI has reduced the size of its workforce by around 20% as part of the move as it looks to eliminate redundant and non-core business lines. IFMI and JVB .......

    Job Swaps 10 October 2013

  • Research firm promotes credit chief

    Haywood Kelly is set to become global head of research at Morningstar. He will replace Don Phillips in the role at the start of next year.

    Kelly is currently head of equity, credit and structured credit research and has been with the company for 22 years. Phillips will remain a member of the board and serve as md.

    .......

    Job Swaps 10 October 2013

  • Exploring the whole loan alternative

    As rating agencies continue to alter the status of tranches...

    With the financial services sector continuing to rebuild following the financial crisis, investment funds are on the hunt for the highest yield opportunities to ensure investor satisfaction. This remains a core challenge, however, across most investment sectors as absolute yields remain low.

    Funds that have typically focused their trading strategies on RMBS are currently facing the difficulty of a series .......

    Talking Point 10 October 2013

  • CMBS spreads flat, supply up

    Generic US CMBS spreads were unchanged yesterday. BWIC supply remained restricted due to IMN's ABS East conference but did increase to over US$150m, with SCI's PriceABS data showing a number of covers from the session.

    For example, BACM 2006-6 A3 was covered at mid-102. The tranche was first covered in the PriceABS archive on 12 July 2012 at .......

    Market Reports 9 October 2013
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