Complete news archive

  • Credit chief takes over ABS fund

    Simon Finch, credit cio at CQS, has replaced Alistair Lumsden as fund manager for the CQS ABS Fund. He will lead a team of 11 professionals in New York and London, where he is based. Finch has spent almost five years at CQS and was previously head of ABS at Abbey National.

    .......

    Job Swaps 12 December 2012

  • Lower quality, higher issuance for auto ABS

    The credit quality of US auto ABS will decline marginally in 2013, reflecting lenders' gradual return to higher but reasonable levels of risk taking, according to Moody's 2013 outlook for the sector. The agency also projects higher issuance, driven by investor demand to satisfy a need for short-term cash surrogate investment, as well as a need for yield from deeply .......

    News Round-up 12 December 2012

  • Tikehau bolsters investment, advisory groups

    Etienne Gorgeon, Frédéric Sallerin and Vincent Favier have joined Tikehau Group. The appointments bolster the buy- and sell-side teams at Tikehau Investment Management (TIM) and Tikehau Capital Advisors (TCA).

    Gorgeon becomes director of investments for open-ended funds and managed funds at TIM. He was most recently fixed income cio at Edmond de Rothschild Asset Management and previously held roles at .......

    Job Swaps 12 December 2012

  • Fiscal cliff warning

    If negotiations over the fiscal cliff are unsuccessful, the reduced spending and tax increases will have a meaningful impact on both the broader economy and specific programmes important to the US housing market, Fitch warns.

    One programme that could be eliminated is the Mortgage Debt Relief Act of 2007, which allows borrowers to avoid paying tax on the amount of .......

    News Round-up 12 December 2012

  • Non-conforming RMBS stress tested

    Triple-A rated UK non-conforming RMBS tranches can withstand significant macroeconomic stress, according to Fitch. On average, these notes have enough credit protection to cover around nine times the losses expected in the agency's base case, and would only suffer losses if 60%-65% of mortgage portfolios were to default and house prices were to fall by 60% from current levels.

    In .......

    News Round-up 12 December 2012

  • Latin American SF outlook 'strong'

    The credit quality of new transactions from Latin America's core securitisation markets of Argentina, Brazil and Mexico will be strong in 2013, says Moody's. Performance of existing outstanding transactions will remain stable in Argentina and Brazil, but will vary for existing Mexican transactions.

    "In Argentina, new transactions in 2013 will have a high degree of total credit enhancement, consisting of .......

    News Round-up 12 December 2012

  • Mortgage insurer approach updated

    Moody's has updated its methodology for rating global mortgage insurers. The agency has introduced a new rating factor - Housing Market Attributes - that assesses the state of local housing markets. In addition, it has revised its capital adequacy metrics - which will now cap insurance financial strength ratings - and recalibrated the rating scorecard.

    Based on this new rating .......

    News Round-up 12 December 2012

  • Latest US CRE price trends examined

    US central business district (CBD) office real estate prices continue to outperform other core commercial sectors, according to the latest Moody's/RCA CPPI report. CBD office prices increased 9.6% over the three months to November and 17.4% over 12 months.

    "The CPPI national all-property composite price declined 0.5% in October as a 0.6% gain in apartment was offset by the decline .......

    News Round-up 12 December 2012

  • CDO trading themes emerge

    Last week saw US$3.8bn of US CLO issuance, after November posted the highest volume per month since August 2007 (US$8bn). The week witnessed heavy BWIC activity too, with US$2.5bn of CDO paper out for the bid.

    CDO strategists at JPMorgan point to a number of trading themes that are emerging as 2012 draws to a close. First is that the .......

    News 11 December 2012

  • Stable outlook for structured credit

    Moody's has published its global structured credit outlook for 2013. The release covers the structured finance CDO, Trups CDO, market value CLO and CSO sectors.

    Moody's outlook is stable for most SF CDO transactions, but positive for those backed by CLO tranches. As a result, the agency expects to make no changes to the ratings on the majority of US .......

    News Round-up 11 December 2012

  • PPIF liquidations continue

    The latest PPIP report shows that all funds have ramped up distributions, with liquidations expected to continue over the coming months. BlackRock is the latest manager to liquidate its PPIF.

    The move is not surprising for several reasons, according to ABS analysts at Barclays Capital. First is that the PPIP structure is an inefficient way to hold non-agency RMBS once .......

    News Round-up 11 December 2012

  • CMBS pay-off highs maintained

    In November, 62.6% of US CMBS loans reaching their balloon date paid off, according to Trepp. The percentage of loans paying off in September and October was 68.2% and 60.7% respectively. Prior to September, the pay-off level had only surpassed 60% twice since the beginning of 2009.

    By loan count (as opposed to balance), 67.7% of loans paid off last .......

    News Round-up 11 December 2012

  • RMBS research head appointed

    Greg Reiter has joined Wells Fargo Securities as md and head of residential mortgage research. He will be based in Charlotte, North Carolina, and report to head of structured products research Marielle Jan de Beur.

    Reiter will lead the RMBS research team in developing strategy, publishing research and generating investment ideas for institutional investors. He joins from Freddie Mac, where .......

    Job Swaps 11 December 2012

  • Rating confirmation clarified

    Fitch has clarified that it will not provide rating confirmations in connection with the appointment of a special servicer in EMEA CMBS. The agency says this stance formalises concerns it previously expressed regarding proposals originating from individual creditor classes, whose interests may not be aligned with those of other affected noteholders.

    Replacing a special servicer is one source of influence .......

    News Round-up 11 December 2012

  • Further CPO guidance issued

    The CFTC last week issued a letter providing additional guidance to securitisation vehicles regarding whether they may be excluded from the definition of commodity pool. The letter also stated that the Commission won't take enforcement action against the operators of certain securitisation vehicles that don't issue new securities after 12 October for failure to register as a commodity pool operator, .......

    News Round-up 11 December 2012

  • RMBS charges for former board members

    The US SEC has charged eight former members of boards which oversaw five Memphis, Tennessee-based mutual funds for violating their asset pricing responsibilities. The funds were invested in RMBS backed by subprime mortgages and fraudulently overstated the value of the securities during the crisis, the SEC says.

    The eight accused fund directors are Kenneth Alderman, Jack Blair, Albert Johnson, James .......

    Job Swaps 11 December 2012

  • OTC data alliance created

    Xenomorph and Numerix have formed a partnership to provide a technology solution for derivatives trade pricing and risk management. Users of the Numerix Portfolio OTC pricing platform will now also be able to access Xenomorph's TimeScape analytics and data management system through a single framework.

    TimeScape streamlines the capture, cleansing, storage, integration, analysis and distribution of market data and risk .......

    Job Swaps 11 December 2012

  • Overseas Shipholding results in

    The final price for Overseas Shipholding Group Inc CDS was determined to be 35.5 at an auction held on 6 December. 12 dealers submitted initial markets, physical settlement requests and limit orders to the auction, to settle trades across the market referencing the entity.

    .......

    News Round-up 10 December 2012

  • ABS CDO auctions due

    Auctions have been scheduled for 31 December for two ABS CDOs - Independence IV CDO and RFC CDO I. The collateral will only be sold if the highest bid results in the sale proceeds being at least equal to the auction call redemption amount.

    .......

    News Round-up 10 December 2012

  • CMBS loss severities inch up

    The weighted average loss severity for all US CMBS loans liquidated at a loss was 40.8% in 3Q12, slightly up from 40.5% in the prior quarter, says Moody's. From 1 October 2011 to 15 September 2012, US$15.7bn of CMBS loans were liquidated - up by US$1.2bn over the same period the previous year.

    The weighted average loss severity for all .......

    News Round-up 10 December 2012

  • Solvency II concerns underlined

    Relatively high capital charges for securitisations under the new Solvency II European insurance rules could lead European insurers to dramatically reduce exposure to the asset class and invest in covered bonds instead, S&P argues (see also SCI 21 September). The agency notes that capital charges for senior securitisations under the draft Solvency II rules' standard formula are up to 10 .......

    News Round-up 10 December 2012
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