Complete news archive

  • ResCap creditors seeking suit

    Unsecured creditors of ResCap are seeking permission from the bankruptcy court to sue Ally on the basis that the US$750m it has offered to settle all its ResCap liabilities is not enough (SCI 12 February). The creditors claim that Ally has exploited its control over ResCap and, as such, may be responsible for all of ResCap's unsecured liabilities - which .......

    News Round-up 16 April 2013

  • EU ruling 'credit neutral' for Spanish RMBS

    The EU Court of Justice last month ruled that the current Spanish mortgage foreclosure process is not in line with current EU laws in terms of consumer rights, as Spanish borrowers have limited grounds to stay the foreclosure process, even if they claim that there are "unfair terms" in the mortgage loan. Spain plans to incorporate the EU ruling into .......

    News Round-up 16 April 2013

  • High ratings stability seen in SME ABS

    EMEA SME ABS ratings stability has been high over the past five years, according to Moody's. As of October 2012, 50% of the tranches rated Aaa in February 2007 or later either retain their Aaa ratings or retained their Aaa ratings until the rating was withdrawn.

    This level rises above 90% if only transactions in Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany .......

    News Round-up 16 April 2013

  • Insurer mints sidecar

    ACE has established a US$95m sidecar, Altair Re, to provide additional collateralised capacity for its global reinsurance business. The capital will be used to broadly support ACE Tempest Re's global property catastrophe reinsurance portfolio. Willis Capital Markets & Advisory acted as structuring and placement agent on the transaction.

    .......

    News Round-up 16 April 2013

  • Spanish mortgage arrears hit highs

    Fitch reports that the Spanish mortgage market is deteriorating across many performance measures. According to its latest index reading, 1Q13 represented a record high for the proportion of securitised mortgages that are in serious arrears or default. At the same time, lenders that have taken properties into possession have had to accept lower prices as a proportion of the original .......

    News Round-up 16 April 2013

  • Ambac, IRS settlement agreed

    Ambac Financial Group has reached an agreement with the US Internal Revenue Service that will bring resolution to claims filed against it and related litigation (SCI 28 February 2012). The settlement is expected to put the insurer in a favourable position to emerge from bankruptcy and move forward with managing its existing business, as well as exploring new business opportunities.

    Job Swaps 16 April 2013

  • Short sales dampening loss severities

    US RMBS loss severities are expected to continue their slow decline this year due in part to the increased use of short sales, according to Fitch. The agency's loss severity index improved to 64.2% for 1Q13, down from 67.5% in 1Q12.

    Drivers of the improved loss severity rate include increased short sale percentages, fewer servicer advances on missed payments and .......

    News Round-up 16 April 2013

  • Spread volatility presents ABS opportunities

    Spread volatility in US consumer ABS has increased markedly since the financial crisis. This trend is set to hold true for the foreseeable future and could bring with it relative value opportunities for investors to exploit.

    ABS analysts at Wells Fargo have compared changes in generic spread levels for the prime and subprime auto ABS sectors in a pre-crisis period .......

    News 16 April 2013

  • TMPG updates margining recommendations

    The US Treasury Market Practices Group (TMPG) has updated its recommendation regarding the margining of forward-settling agency MBS transactions. Specifically, the implementation timeline has been modified, while two aspects of the margining recommendation has been clarified in response to feedback received from market participants. The TMPG believes that these updates will provide the time and guidance needed by market participants .......

    News Round-up 16 April 2013

  • Euro CMBS yet to benefit legacy loans

    The recent resumption of European CMBS new issuance is yet to benefit the vast majority of legacy loans, which continue to face long-term refinancing and repayment issues, according to S&P's latest European CMBS monthly bulletin. Current interest in CMBS new issuance has instead focused on certain loans that show stable performance and strong fundamentals.

    "These newly issued transactions have mainly .......

    News Round-up 16 April 2013

  • Law firm continues SF expansion

    Reed Smith has added another partner to its structured finance practice with the appointment of Claude Brown. He arrives from Clifford Chance, where he was head of structured solutions.

    Brown specialises in derivatives, commodity derivatives and prime brokerage. His derivatives practice focuses on the development of financing and fund structures, structured note, structured repos, CDS structures, repackaging structures and secured .......

    Job Swaps 16 April 2013

  • Apollo Euro CLO prints

    Apollo Global Management has priced ALME Loan Funding 2013-1, its €334m debut European CLO. The transaction was upsized from €307m.

    Arranged by Citi, the deal's capital structure comprises seven tranches: €195m class A1 notes; €27m A2s; €27m Bs; €15.2m Cs; €11.9m Ds; €13m Es; and €45.5m subordinated notes. Moody's has assigned Aaa ratings to the class A1 notes and S&P .......

    News Round-up 15 April 2013

  • Cherryland reversal 'credit positive'

    The Michigan Court of Appeals last week upheld the constitutionality of the Nonrecourse Mortgage Loan Act, reversing its surprising December 2011 decision - known as the Cherryland case - that prompted passage of the act in March 2012 (SCI 5 April 2012). Moody's notes in its latest Credit Outlook publications that the ruling is credit positive for US CMBS because .......

    News Round-up 15 April 2013

  • Sovereign ratings cap mulled

    S&P is reviewing the methodology it applies when assigning structured finance ratings above the rating on the sovereign for the country where the securitised assets are domiciled. The objective of the criteria review is to promote transparency and comparability across all S&P ratings globally and to address the recent experience in some eurozone member countries, according to the agency.

    The criteria .......

    News Round-up 15 April 2013

  • Coronado buy-back announced

    Barclays Capital has commenced a tender offer to purchase for cash all of the outstanding class A-1, B-1 and B-2 notes of Coronado CDO. The bank is offering to buy back the respective notes at US$940, US$210 and US$210 per each US$1000 outstanding. The offer will expire on 9 May, unless extended.

    .......

    News Round-up 15 April 2013

  • CMBS late-pays inch up

    CMBS late-pays rose by 2bp in March to 7.63% from 7.61% a month earlier, according to Fitch's latest index results for the sector. This is the first time in 10 months that overall delinquencies have risen.

    CMBS loan resolutions edged out new additions to the index, but a drop in new issuance volume failed to keep pace with the run-off, .......

    News Round-up 15 April 2013

  • Data repository service offered

    Traiana has rolled out its swap data repository service for OTC derivatives. Dubbed Harmony TR Connect, it aims to allow market participants to comply with the trade reporting requirements under the Dodd-Frank and EMIR frameworks, offering a single point of connection for post-trade reporting of FX, interest rate and credit default swap trades. The service also provides a messaging hub .......

    News Round-up 15 April 2013

  • SCI Start the Week - 15 April

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

    Pipeline
    The number of deals entering the pipeline was fairly steady last week, with eight deals remaining there at Friday's close. These included two ABS, one ILS, one RMBS, three CMBS and a CLO.

    The ABS comprised €569.5m Monviso 2013 and US$225m SLM Student Loan EDC Repackaging Trust 2013-M1, while the ILS was US$100m Pelican Re series 2013-1. The RMBS was .......

    News 15 April 2013

  • HARP gets extension

    The Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP) has been extended by two years to 31 December 2015. The programme was due to expire on 31 December 2013.

    "More than two million homeowners have refinanced through HARP, proving it a useful tool for reducing risk," comments FHFA acting director Edward DeMarco. "We are extending the programme so more underwater borrowers can benefit .......

    News Round-up 15 April 2013

  • MLTV reaches 'inflection point'

    An analysis of a new database of conduit and large loans included in US CMBS shows that the metrics employed by Moody's are effectively identifying credit risk in CMBS, the agency says. It notes that the Moody's loan-to-value (MLTV) measure - which reflects the percentage of a property's value that is mortgaged - has reached an inflection point.

    Unlike the .......

    News Round-up 12 April 2013

  • Secondary CMBS reacts to primary pricing

    US CMBS new issue spreads have widened in recent weeks with growing investor concern about high premium prices and early returns of principal. Legacy super seniors reset yesterday, however, tightening by 1bp to 2bp.

    "This week investors learned that it was not only high quality legacy paper getting strict scrutiny. Spreads on new issue last cashflow triple-A paper reset this .......

    Market Reports 12 April 2013
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