Complete news archive

  • STACR to receive NAIC designation?

    NAIC appears to have abandoned its proposal to alter the process used to derive ratings for RMBS and CMBS positions held by insurance companies, which would have reduced NAIC breakpoints for most bonds taking losses or interest shortfalls (SCI 17 April). The organisation is now said to be examining the accounting and reporting framework for Freddie Mac's recent STACR deal .......

    News Round-up 3 September 2013

  • Industry vets bolster fixed income unit

    Canaccord Genuity has made a series of appointments to its fixed income team. Steve Lobb joins as senior md and head of US fixed income sales, while Barry Dennis, Dean Larson and William Ludington have all joined in structured products positions.

    Lobb has over 25 years of experience in fixed income and was previously global head of credit sales at .......

    Job Swaps 3 September 2013

  • Post-crisis tweaks strengthen Japanese CMBS

    Moody's reports that, for the first time since the 2008-2009 financial crisis, no Japanese CMBS loan defaults have been recorded for a six-month period. The agency notes in its latest 'Structured Thinking: Asia Pacific' publication that the default rate of its rated CMBS loan portfolio significantly improved to zero in 1H13 from 43% in 2012 and 56% in 2011.

    In .......

    News Round-up 3 September 2013

  • Structured credit pro in hedge fund role

    Elena Ranguelova has joined Investcorp as head of credit and equity strategies in New York. It is a newly-created role in which she takes responsibility for supporting investments in emerging managers and Investcorp's Single Manager Platform hedge fund seeding business.

    Ranguelova was previously global head of credit and event driven strategy research at Pioneer Investments. She worked at Goldman Sachs .......

    Job Swaps 3 September 2013

  • OneWest deals hit by forbearance losses

    A number of OneWest-serviced RMBS that were transferred to Ocwen recognised forbearance losses last month (SCI 5 July). For instance, ALBT 2007-OA1 recognised US$5.4m in past forbearance losses - amounting to 6% of unpaid principal balance - with the A2 bond being written down by US$5.8m.

    A few deals from the MARM shelves took losses of 0.5%-1% of UPB, according .......

    News Round-up 3 September 2013

  • Consultation launched on CCB location

    The EBA has launched a consultation on draft regulatory technical standards (RTS) setting out criteria for identifying the geographical location of all relevant credit exposures - namely credit risk, trading book and securitisation exposures. These RTS will be part of the Single Rulebook aimed at enhancing regulatory harmonisation in the banking sector in the EU.

    Under EU capital requirements rules, .......

    News Round-up 3 September 2013

  • Starting early

    Ivan Zinn, founding partner and cio at Atalaya Capital Management, answers SCI's questions

    Q: How and when did Atalaya become involved in the structured finance markets?
    A:     Atalaya Capital Management has been around for about eight years now. We started out in corporate credit, but over the last five years we have started to focus more on structured finance. We see greater opportunities in specialty finance and in some .......

    The Structured Credit Interview 2 September 2013

  • CDO auctions due

    Auctions have been scheduled for two ABS CDOs on 23 September. Collateral from the Libertas Preferred Funding I and Kleros Preferred Funding deals will only be sold if the proceeds equal their senior redemption amounts.

    .......

    News Round-up 2 September 2013

  • Non-cleared margin requirements released

    The Basel Committee and IOSCO have released the final framework for margin requirements for non-centrally cleared derivatives. Under the standards, all financial firms and systemically important non-financial entities that engage in non-centrally cleared derivatives will have to exchange initial and variation margin commensurate with the counterparty risks arising from such transactions.

    The final set of requirements includes a number of .......

    News Round-up 2 September 2013

  • End of Greek moratorium discussed

    Lifting the mandatory freeze on repossessions and auctions of debtors' main residences would be positive for Greek RMBS and cover pools, Fitch says. The move would increase cashflows from recoveries and could shorten foreclosure timing assumptions. However, the increase in supply may prevent recovery rates and recovery times from returning to levels associated with a less distressed housing market.

    A .......

    News Round-up 2 September 2013

  • Eminent domain injunction supported

    SFIG has filed an amicus curiae brief in support of Wells Fargo's motion for a preliminary injunction against the City of Richmond, California and Mortgage Resolution Partners (SCI 13 August). The case - which attempts to halt the city's proposed use of eminent domain to seize mortgage loans from private label securitisation trusts - is currently proceeding in the US .......

    News Round-up 2 September 2013

  • NCUA sets sights on Morgan Stanley

    The NCUA has filed suit in a federal court in Kansas against Morgan Stanley and other firms, alleging legal violations in the sale of more than US$566m of RMBS to the US Central and WesCorp corporate credit unions.

    The suit alleges that misrepresentations were made about the underwriting and in the subsequent sale of the RMBS. The offering documents are .......

    Job Swaps 2 September 2013

  • SCI Start the Week - 2 September

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

    Pipeline
    Two ABS, one ILS, one RMBS and one CLO entered the pipeline last week and remained there by the weekend. Of these transactions, just two were US deals.

    The ABS joining the pipeline were €500m Driver France FCT Compartiment 2013-1 and A$270m Flexi ABS Trust 2013-2, while the ILS was US$125m Atlas IX. The CLO was €300m North Westerly CLO .......

    News 2 September 2013

  • Euro ABS may stay quiet

    It has been a typically quiet August for European ABS as traders take their holidays, although there has been some BWIC activity to keep those that remained at their desks occupied. However, there is a growing concern that this September may not bring the pick-up in activity that is traditionally seen.

    "This has been a quiet month, which is what .......

    Market Reports 30 August 2013

  • Punch securitisation deemed weak

    Punch Taverns' Punch A securitisation business profile has been revised down to weak by S&P, affecting the credit ratings on the class A1, A2, M1 and M2N notes. The B1, B2, B3, C and D1 notes have been affirmed and the outlook remains negative.

    S&P has previously viewed Punch A as stronger than Punch B, but has now revised it .......

    News Round-up 30 August 2013

  • Restructuring to provide UK NC blueprint?

    As one of several of Lehman Brothers' UK non-conforming RMBS without a currency swap in place after Lehman's bankruptcy, the recent restructuring of MFD 2008-1 may give clues as to how similar deals will be restructured, believe Nomura ABS strategists. The restructuring is positive, they argue, crystallising losses immediately, re-balancing the deal and removing future FX risk.

    The restructuring took .......

    News Round-up 30 August 2013

  • Agency brings in ratings vet

    Morningstar Credit Ratings has appointed Vickie Tillman as president, starting in September. She will lead operations for the structured credit research and ratings business, reporting to equity and credit research svp Haywood Kelly.

    Tillman previously spent three decades at S&P. She was most recently svp in McGraw-Hill's global strategy group.

    .......

    Job Swaps 30 August 2013

  • JHF RMBS credit risk up despite lower LTVs

    The positive impact on RMBS of the Japan Housing Finance (JHF) lowering its maximum LTV from 100% to 90% for its Flat35 loans is offset by the increase of down payment loans provided by private institutions, says Moody's. The Flat35 housing-loan programme is funded through the JHF's RMBS programme.

    Consumers who cannot afford the 10% down payment for a 90% .......

    News Round-up 30 August 2013

  • UK card trusts to avoid mis-selling pain

    The mis-selling of identity theft and fraud protection to UK credit card borrowers should not be detrimental to UK credit card trusts, says Fitch. The agency notes that payment protection insurance (PPI) mis-selling occurred on a larger scale without affecting trust performance.

    Seven million borrowers could be entitled to compensation, with a compensation scheme set up under which £1.3bn could .......

    News Round-up 30 August 2013

  • QRM proposal 'RMBS positive'

    The latest proposal on the treatment of qualified residential mortgages (QRM) by six US regulatory agencies (SCI 29 August) will reduce uncertainty for residential mortgage originators, RMBS issuers and investors, says Fitch. It should also support stronger participation in jumbo loan activity by US banks.

    The proposal would align QRM rules with existing mortgage risk retention standards mandated by the .......

    News Round-up 30 August 2013

  • Autos bump up ABS volume

    US ABS secondary volume was up yesterday, driven by a list of short block sized auto bonds. SCI's PriceABS data shows a number of covers from the session as BWIC volume passed US$300m.

    ALLYA 2010-4 A4 is a particularly interesting tranche from the session. It was covered yesterday at 100.4, having first appeared in PriceABS one .......

    Market Reports 29 August 2013
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