Complete news archive

  • Athilon upgraded

    S&P has raised the issuer credit rating (ICR) on the Athilon CDPC to triple-B plus from double-B plus. At the same time, the agency affirmed its ratings on the senior subordinated, subordinated and junior subordinated notes. Its outlook on Athilon is stable.

    The higher ICR primarily reflects S&P's view regarding the seasoning credit of Athilon's tranche CDS portfolio. The CDPC .......

    News Round-up 4 April 2013

  • NCUA settles with BofA

    The NCUA last week announced a settlement with Bank of America for US$165m for losses related to purchases of RMBS by failed corporate credit unions. The agency subsequently filed a petition with the Supreme Court of New York State to withdraw its objections against the US$8.5bn proposed Countrywide settlement (see also separate article on put-backs).

    NCUA has now successfully recovered .......

    Job Swaps 4 April 2013

  • Put-back progress

    RMBS repurchase cases move through courts

    Lawsuits resulting from RMBS representation and warranty breaches are taking longer to progress through the courts than was originally anticipated, although greater clarity on the outcomes is emerging. As well as the Countrywide and ResCap settlements, the door has now been opened for more monoline put-back cases to be brought.

    "Five years ago it looked like the repurchase process would .......

    News Analysis 4 April 2013

  • Servicing opportunities eyed in Spain

    Third-party non-performing loan servicers from outside Spain are seeking to establish platforms in the Spanish mortgage market that could bring additional specialist expertise to mortgage servicing, Fitch reports. The agency says that increasing use of specialised servicing platforms could be positive for RMBS portfolio performance, helping to achieve better recovery rates as delinquencies - and the resources required to deal .......

    News Round-up 3 April 2013

  • UK resi loss severities analysed

    Loan loss severities on UK repossessed properties have increased substantially alongside the proportion of loans suffering a loss, according to Fitch. Over 87% of properties taken into possession since 2008 have been sold at a loss to the lender, far higher than the 34% of repossessions prior to the financial crisis. The average size of the loss has also increased, .......

    News Round-up 3 April 2013

  • Euro TR in the works

    IntercontinentalExchange is seeking to establish ICE Trade Vault Europe as a trade repository for the reporting of swaps and futures trade data to meet EMIR requirements. Its launch remains subject to approval by ESMA.

    ICE Trade Vault US became the first swap data repository (SDR) in the US to receive provisional regulatory approval from the CFTC last June. It began .......

    News Round-up 3 April 2013

  • SME CLO criteria updated

    Fitch has updated its global rating criteria for SME CLOs, largely to reflect increased market value decline (MVD) expectations. The changes aren't expected to have a systematic ratings impact, however.

    Fitch has updated its MVD expectations for commercial properties located in Spain by up to 10% as a result of further recent increased volatility observed in the market. Commercial MVD .......

    News Round-up 3 April 2013

  • Euro industrial focus for new fund

    Assenagon Asset Management has established a new fund that aims to take advantage of opportunities in the corporate bond market, while minimising interest rate and exchange rate risks. Dubbed Assenagon Credit Selection, the fund targets a coupon of 350bp over three-month Euribor per annum. The fund will invest in CDS and corporate bonds in the European industrial sector, and will .......

    News Round-up 3 April 2013

  • Affiliate clearing exemption agreed

    The CFTC has issued a final rule to exempt swaps between certain affiliated entities within a corporate group from clearing requirements under the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA), subject to a number of conditions. The rule permits affiliated counterparties to elect not to clear a swap if those counterparties are majority-owned affiliates whose financial statements are included in the same consolidated .......

    News Round-up 3 April 2013

  • Downward pressure in store for Euro CMBS

    The second quarter is likely to start off on a difficult note for legacy EMEA CMBS, according to Fitch's latest quarterly index report for the sector. While the index itself stabilised at 46.9% in April - slightly up from 46.6% in January - downward pressure appears likely going forward.

    Fitch notes that 23 CMBS loans mature this month alone, with .......

    News Round-up 3 April 2013

  • Hotels push CMBS delinquencies higher

    The delinquency rate for US CMBS inched higher by 8bp in March to 9.5% after reaching the lowest level in a year the previous month, according to Trepp. Overall, the rate has fallen by 84bp since hitting its all-time peak of 10.34% at end-July 2012.

    Loan resolutions continued to drop in March, falling from just under US$1bn in February to .......

    News Round-up 3 April 2013

  • Freddie loan-level data welcomed

    Freddie Mac's public release of historical loan-level performance data on some of the mortgages it owns is an important step towards drawing private capital back to the US mortgage market, Fitch suggests. The agency says that the data helps pave the way for risk-sharing transactions that will allow the GSE to sell credit risk to the private market and to .......

    News Round-up 3 April 2013

  • Student paper surfaces as ABS picks up

    Bank card bonds may have accounted for the bulk of secondary ABS supply on Monday, but a busier session yesterday saw more variety out for the bid. Much of the available paper comprised student loan assets, but SCI's PriceABS data also shows timeshare, container and whole-business ABS tranches circulating.

    "Secondary trading flows have increased from the prior session. .......

    Market Reports 3 April 2013

  • Bankruptcy credit event called

    ISDA's Americas Credit Derivatives Determinations Committee has resolved that a bankruptcy credit event occurred in respect of Dex One Corporation and SuperMedia Inc and other entities listed in their bankruptcy filings. The two firms had previously announced a proposed merger, but both voluntarily filed for Chapter 11 in the US Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware on 18 March. .......

    News Round-up 3 April 2013

  • New fund formed

    Deer Park Road Corp has confirmed the launch of its new ABS fund (SCI 4 December 2012), dubbed Burgess Creek Fund. The new fund will focus on bonds with steady monthly cashflow and high-yield characteristics, along with capital appreciation potential. The firm says that a number of investors have already expressed a strong interest in the strategy.

    .......

    News Round-up 3 April 2013

  • Insurers set to widen investment focus

    Falling investment returns are proving to be problematic for insurance companies. Their asset allocation strategies are consequently expected to evolve and embrace new asset classes, including infrastructure and SMEs.

    New research from ING Investment Management (ING IM) among UK-based active fund managers and investment intermediaries reveals that 44% of respondents believe falling investment income has contributed to falling dividends in .......

    News Round-up 3 April 2013

  • ARMOUR appoints strategy chief

    ARMOUR Residential Management, which manages ARMOUR Residential REIT and JAVELIN Mortgage Investment Corp, has appointed Desmond Macauley as director of mortgage strategy. He was formerly md in the RMBS strategy group at RBS and before that served as RMBS research vp at Merrill Lynch.

    .......

    Job Swaps 3 April 2013

  • Bloomberg PolarLake adds SF data

    Fitch Solutions has signed an agreement to provide its credit rating data through Bloomberg PolarLake's Enterprise Data Management (EDM) service. This includes Fitch's structured finance coverage, as well as global credit rating coverage for sovereigns, public finance, corporate finance and financial institutions.

    The EDM service acquires, manages and distributes large volumes of financial data so it can be distributed to .......

    Job Swaps 3 April 2013

  • CLO pro joins law firm

    Appleby has added George Bashforth to its Cayman team as head of directorship services for Appleby Trust. He was previously svp at MaplesFS where he managed a portfolio of investment fund and structured finance directorships and before that spent eight years with Goldman Sachs in London.

    Bashforth has extensive structured finance experience including CLOs, note programmes and repackagings. He will .......

    Job Swaps 3 April 2013

  • CDO auctions due

    Auctions are due to be conducted for Longport Funding II and Trainer Wortham First Republic CBO IV. The sales for the transactions will be held on 19 and 22 April respectively.

    The collateral manager of the former deal, while it may not be the highest bidder, will have the option to purchase the collateral or any sub-pool for a purchase .......

    News Round-up 2 April 2013

  • Negative rating transitions 'less pervasive'

    Credit quality for global structured finance securities fell for the sixth consecutive year in 2012, again led by US RMBS, S&P reports. But downgrades were less pervasive and, with marginally improving global economic prospects and easing risks, the agency expects 2013 to mark a turning point for more stable credit performance.

    Going forward, S&P anticipates overall downgrade and default rates .......

    News Round-up 2 April 2013
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