Complete news archive

  • Manager adds non-agency specialist

    Prosiris Capital Management has appointed Aashish Marfatia in New York to enhance its residential mortgage capabilities. He takes responsibility for non-agency residential mortgage trading and related investments.

    Marfatia has over 10 years of experience in the mortgage and securitised product space. He was previously at Tilden Park, Perry Capital, Credit Suisse and Moody's, working in research and trading positions.

    .......

    Job Swaps 15 August 2013

  • More GSE RMBS sales anticipated

    Quarterly statements released last week by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac show that CMBS accounts for a disproportionate amount of sales from their legacy holdings so far, at 55%. While the RMBS portfolios are bigger at both GSEs, the proportion of sales coming from them has been smaller, at about 25% for Freddie Mac and 45% for Fannie Mae.

    Barclays .......

    News 15 August 2013

  • Freddie K-Cert A1s look attractive

    Five-year average-life first pay FREMF issuance spreads have widened dramatically over the last three months. The latest A1 tranche priced at swaps plus 68bp, a level which makes the paper very competitive with CMBS 3.0 and PAC CMOs with similar durations.

    Spreads for FREMF 2013-K27 when it came to the market in May were swaps plus 31bp for the A1 .......

    News 15 August 2013

  • Longevity risk consultation launched

    The Joint Forum has released a consultative report on the longevity risk transfer (LRT) markets. The paper aims to assist in setting appropriate policies and to help ensure effective supervision of related activities and risk.

    Estimates of the total global amount of annuity- and pension-related longevity risk exposure range from US$15trn to US$25trn. At the same time, pension funds are .......

    News Round-up 15 August 2013

  • Tobacco ABS review completed

    Fitch has completed its annual review of tobacco ABS ratings, accounting for the amount of Master Settlement Agreement (MSA) payment received by each trust in 2013. For 2013, the aggregate MSA payment was 21.56% higher than the amount in 2012, due to the non-participating manufacturer dispute settlement payment made by the tobacco companies to 20 settling states and territories.

    This .......

    News Round-up 15 August 2013

  • Stable performance for timeshare ABS

    S&P reports that the performance of collateral backing transactions in its US timeshare securitisation performance index remained stable in the first half of 2013. Total delinquencies declined overall and monthly defaults remained steady. Excess spread was also stable, but spiked in March after one deal was redeemed.

    Total delinquencies declined from 4.2% in January to 3.92% in June, while monthly .......

    News Round-up 15 August 2013

  • US CMBS downgrades declining

    Fitch notes a stabilisation of trends in outstanding and newly issued US CMBS versus 1Q13. The majority of outstanding Fitch-rated investment grade classes maintained stable rating outlooks, while second-quarter downgrades declined over those in the first quarter.

    "CMBS downgrades will continue to decline due to fewer loans transferring to special servicing and fewer delinquencies," comments Fitch md Mary MacNeill. Most .......

    News Round-up 15 August 2013

  • Libor actions to remain a 'distraction'

    The recent dismissal by the New York Federal District Court of antitrust and racketeering claims with regard to alleged Libor manipulation is credit positive for those banks that participate in Libor-setting panels, Moody's notes. However, the agency suggests that the banks remain vulnerable to fraud-based and other legal claims.

    Litigation in the US based on securities fraud and other state .......

    News Round-up 15 August 2013

  • RFC issued on multi-country CLOs

    Moody's has published a request for comment on its proposed approach to assessing country risk in multi-country CLOs. Under the proposal, for a given size of exposure to countries with a local currency country risk ceiling (LCC) of A1 and lower, the rating agency would provide tables that indicate a portfolio par value haircut for tranches with target ratings higher .......

    News Round-up 15 August 2013

  • Index constituent changes predicted

    Markit iTraxx Series 20 is set to begin trading on 20 September. Based on current data and Series 19 inclusion rules, JPMorgan credit derivative strategists expect six constituent changes in iTraxx Main and three in iTraxx Crossover. No changes are anticipated for the iTraxx Financials index.

    The names likely to leave the iTraxx Main index are PostNL, Xstrata, Henkel, JTI .......

    News Round-up 14 August 2013

  • Japanese clearing compliance polled

    Calypso Technology has announced the results of a survey on OTC clearing conducted at a recent conference it hosted in Tokyo. The survey revealed that 80% of respondents are working on achieving operationally readiness for OTC clearing in Japan; 20% are already operationally ready, even though it is not mandated.

    It is expected that OTC client clearing will be mandated .......

    News Round-up 14 August 2013

  • Ratings withdrawn on 'lack of interest'

    S&P has withdrawn its ratings on 2,905 tranches from 193 US RMBS, citing "a lack of market interest in the securities". Previously rated D, the affected classes of notes were issued between 1999 and 2007 and are backed by a mix of adjustable- and fixed-rate loans secured primarily by first liens on one- to four-family residential properties.

    Many of the .......

    News Round-up 14 August 2013

  • Fixed income PM appointed

    Jon Jonsson has joined Neuberger Berman as md. He is based in London and joins from JPMorgan, where he spent more than 15 years. Jonsson will serve as a portfolio manager on the firm's global fixed income team.

    .......

    Job Swaps 14 August 2013

  • CMBS ratings probe opened

    The US SEC is believed to have opened an investigation into the consistency of S&P's CMBS rating methodology. The move is said to be related to when the agency pulled assigned ratings on the US$1.5bn GSMST 2011-GC4 transaction just over two years ago, prompting Goldman Sachs and Citi to abandon their deal after it was placed with investors (SCI 28 .......

    Job Swaps 14 August 2013

  • Special opportunities fund closed

    Atalaya Capital Management has closed its fifth special opportunities fund to a new and existing primarily institutional investor base. Atalaya Fund V will seek to build upon the firm's prior success in opportunistically purchasing illiquid credit assets. Fund V may also invest in specialty finance opportunities and originate select primary private credit investments.

    Atalaya exceeded its US$500m target and closed .......

    News Round-up 14 August 2013

  • SF vet joins REO-to-rental push

    FeatherStone Investment Group has appointed Kevin Blaser as structuring and trading md. He will be in charge of all new securitisations of FeatherStone's REO-to-rental portfolio and secondary trading activities.

    Blaser has over 20 years of structured finance experience and has previously worked for companies such as Shay Asset Management and KTI Enterprises. He will be based in Atlanta.

    FeatherStone has .......

    Job Swaps 14 August 2013

  • ILS fund manager adds analyst

    Ben Adolph has joined Leadenhall Capital Partners' underwriting team in London as senior non-life analyst. He will report to head of portfolio analysis Jillian Williams.

    Adolph was previously at Antares, where he was property treaty deputy underwriter. Before that he worked in Brit's North American property treaty underwriting team.

    .......

    Job Swaps 14 August 2013

  • RFC issued on PF CDOs

    Moody's has published a request for comment (RFC) on its proposed approach to rating CDOs backed by project finance and infrastructure assets (PF CDOs). Based on preliminary analysis, the agency expects the rating impact on existing transactions to be limited to a one-notch downgrade, which may affect one or two PF CDO transactions.

    The proposed approach is in line with .......

    News Round-up 14 August 2013

  • US CRE 'performing strongly'

    All commercial real estate sectors performed strongly in 2Q13 and are expected to continue doing so, according Moody's latest US CMBS and CRE CDO surveillance review.

    "Despite some muted economic indicators, commercial real estate property markets benefitted from a limited amount of construction, as well as positive absorption," comments Michael Gerdes, md and head of Moody's US CMBS & CRE .......

    News Round-up 14 August 2013

  • Hotel price appreciation analysed

    US major market hotel prices have risen by 19.2% over the last two quarters, more than double the 7.9% rise in non-major market hotel prices, according to the latest Moody's/RCA Commercial Property Price Indices (CPPI). Apartment prices increased by 0.7%, while core commercial prices were up by 2.6%. The national all-property composite index increased by 2.1% in June.

    Major market .......

    News Round-up 14 August 2013

  • Large list leads RMBS surge

    A CDO liquidation and large legacy bid-list helped boost US RMBS secondary supply yesterday, with around US$1.2bn of non-agency BWIC volume observed. Senior tranches dominated, while investors were mainly focused on subprime paper.

    The legacy list is understood to have been met with good participation, with 16 of its 20 bonds trading. Many of the session's larger blocks came from .......

    Market Reports 14 August 2013
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