Complete news archive

  • German insolvency amendment 'credit negative'

    The German parliament last month passed an act amending the personal insolvency regime, shortening to three years from six the period after which a borrower under personal insolvency can discharge his remaining unsecured debt if he has repaid 35% of the total. The law will be effective from 1 July 2014.

    Moody's notes in its latest Credit Insight publication that .......

    News Round-up 20 June 2013

  • Card charge-off forecast lowered

    Steady improvement in early-stage delinquency rates, combined with stable roll rates point to a continued decline in US bank card trust charge-offs through the end of the year. As a result, Moody's has lowered its forecast for the Moody's Credit Card Index charge-off rate for 2013 to 3%-4%, down by 50bp from its forecast earlier this year.

    The agency expects .......

    News Round-up 20 June 2013

  • UK regional divergence continues

    UK mortgage arrears and negative equity continue to diverge regionally, according to S&P. The agency estimates that 3.9% of mortgage balances were in arrears in 1Q13 - only slightly higher than the 3.8% figure in 4Q11, when it conducted its previous study. But the proportion of arrears in northern regions remains about one percentage point higher than in the south.

    News Round-up 20 June 2013

  • Tail risk action underway

    Moody's has placed the ratings of 1079 tranches from 299 US RMBS shifting interest/pro-rata transactions on review for downgrade. The collateral backing the tranches are jumbo, alt-A, option ARM, subprime, manufactured housing and scratch & dent residential mortgages.

    The ratings reflect the exposure of these bonds to tail risk due to the pro-rata pay nature of the transactions. Shifting interest .......

    News Round-up 20 June 2013

  • Aussie RMBS on review

    Moody's has published a secondary methodology describing its monitoring approach to assess tail risk in Australian RMBS. The methodology closes out the request for comment the agency released on the matter (SCI 29 April).

    Specifically, the approach evaluates tail risk in Australian RMBS that pay principal to the tranches on a pro-rata basis and assesses the sufficiency of the credit .......

    News Round-up 20 June 2013

  • MSR sale velocity examined

    Ocwen intends to purchase US$78bn in unpaid principal balance of OneWest Bank mortgage servicing rights and related servicing advances for US$2.53bn. The transaction is expected to close during the second half of this year.

    If completed, the purchase will increase Ocwen's servicing portfolio by 17% to US$547bn. Its portfolio has grown by 377% to US$469bn since 1Q12.

    Deutsche Bank securitised .......

    News 20 June 2013

  • FHFA complaint dismissed

    The New York Supreme Court has dismissed a FHFA complaint against UBS Real Estate Securities in connection with a US$1.1bn RMBS (MARM 2006-OA1), ruling that only the securities' trustee had the power to commence the lawsuit. The FHFA filed its action in April 2012, alleging that UBS refused to buy back defective loans in the pool of 3,187 mortgages that .......

    Job Swaps 20 June 2013

  • Final Lembi properties up for bid

    US$267m of REO properties securitised in CMBS is scheduled for sale next month via Auction.com.

    According to CMBS analysts at Barclays Capital, the largest loan being liquidated is backed by the final nine properties from the Lembi Portfolio securitised in WBCMT 2007-C31, with an unpaid balance of US$77m. The loan was subject to an unusual modification in 2010 involving a .......

    News Round-up 20 June 2013

  • Opera CMH counter bid launched

    Northwood Investors, in its capacity as junior lender to the Opera Finance (CMH) CMBS, has launched a counter bid for the portfolio. The move is in response to Kennedy Wilson/Värde Partners Europe's proposal (SCI 5 June), which appears not to have the support of a number of noteholders.

    The existing proposal contemplates a purchase price of €306m, with the purchasers .......

    News Round-up 20 June 2013

  • TFG shareholder files suit

    Omega Partners is suing the directors of Tetragon Financial Group (TFG) in connection with the October 2012 acquisition by TFG of Polygon Management. The shareholder derivative action was filed in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York.

    The suit alleges that Polygon co-founders Patrick Dear and Reade Griffith profited at the expense of TFG shareholders in .......

    Job Swaps 20 June 2013

  • Spanish loan restructuring activity analysed

    Moody's believes the proportion of restructured loans backing more recent Spanish SME securitisations is higher than the reported figure. The largest 18 Spanish banks reported that by end-2012, on average, around 10% of their total lending portfolio consisted of refinanced or restructured loans. Restructured loans in their portfolios amounted to around €200bn.

    Moody's says in its latest Credit Insight publication .......

    News Round-up 19 June 2013

  • Triple-As dominate CMBX trading

    CMBX trading activity declined significantly last week, given the market's focus on the CRE Finance Council conference. But prices remained on a falling trend and, as of Thursday, were down on average by half a point but up to two points in some indices.

    CRE debt analysts at Deutsche Bank note that CMBX Series 6 performed the worst as a .......

    News Round-up 19 June 2013

  • Subprime auto credit quality set to weaken

    Risk factors such as weakening loan credit, stiff competition among originators and readily available funding for ABS all portend higher credit losses for subprime auto lending, according to Moody's. Private equity money entering the market is further intensifying increasing competition from banks and credit unions.

    "The increased competition among subprime lenders is resulting in more loans to borrowers of weaker .......

    News Round-up 19 June 2013

  • Industry preps for MBS Novation

    Financial firms are increasingly sourcing externally for post-trade processing functions for MBS to improve risk management and increase operational efficiencies, according to a new Broadridge Financial Solutions report. External sourcing is also helping firms better allocate technology resources and meet budget constraints in preparation for the implementation of MBS Novation.

    MBS Novation is the culmination of the Fixed Income Clearing .......

    News Round-up 19 June 2013

  • Private student loan defaults decline

    Moody's expects its private student loan default rate index to continue falling year-over-year in 2013 with the pace of improvement continuing in the teens, as it has in the last four quarters. The default rate index of non-federally guaranteed student loans is also anticipated to remain higher than pre-recession levels.

    Though still high by historical standards, the unemployment rate - .......

    News Round-up 19 June 2013

  • CRA rules set

    New EU credit rating agency rules enter into force tomorrow (20 June). The aim is to increase rating agency accountability while reducing over-reliance on credit ratings, according to the European Commission.

    The new rules require financial institutions to strengthen their own credit risk assessment. European supervisory authorities should also avoid references to external credit ratings and will be required to .......

    News Round-up 19 June 2013

  • Trups CDO defaults, deferrals stable

    The number of combined defaults and deferrals for US bank Trups CDOs remained stable at 28.2% at end-May, according to Fitch's latest index results for the sector. Only one new bank, representing US$5.5m of collateral in one CDO, defaulted during the month.

    The agency says that the previous month's cumulative notional value of defaulted collateral was retroactively reduced, due to .......

    News Round-up 19 June 2013

  • ILS manager names new chief

    Pillar Capital Holdings has named Stephen Velotti ceo, effective immediately. He brings nearly 25 years of insurance and reinsurance experience to the role, including strong expertise in property underwriting.

    Velotti joined Pillar as portfolio manager on its formation in 2008. He was promoted to chief underwriting officer in June 2009 and cio in March 2011.

    .......

    Job Swaps 19 June 2013

  • Servicing acquisition agreed

    KeyCorp Real Estate Capital Markets (KRECM) has entered into a series of agreements to purchase substantially all of Bank of America's CMBS servicing portfolio. At the same time, KRECM will enter into a long-term sub-servicing agreement with Berkadia Commercial Mortgage, pursuant to which Berkadia will service the CMBS portfolio. Moody's has reviewed the proposed transfer and determined that it will .......

    News Round-up 19 June 2013

  • Credit index futures debut

    The first of ICE's planned credit index futures contracts - the Markit CDX Investment Grade When Issued Future - began trading on 17 June. The relative simplicity of the contract is expected to appeal to investors that are not set up to trade OTC credit default swaps.

    The Markit CDX Investment Grade WI Future prices the value of the forthcoming .......

    News 19 June 2013

  • Euro CLO 2.0 protections highlighted

    New European CLOs afford greater protection to senior noteholders than those issued prior to the financial crisis, according to S&P. The agency cites greater subordination for senior notes, higher overcollateralisation ratios and lower leverage as some of the reasons. European CLO 2.0 deals also impose stricter conditions on maturity extensions.

    S&P says that in the main they contain features that .......

    News Round-up 18 June 2013
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