Complete news archive

  • Former cfo jailed for fraud

    Delton de Armas, former Taylor, Bean & Whitaker Mortgage Corp (TBW) cfo, has been sentenced to five years in prison for his role in a US$2.9bn fraud scheme. He pleaded guilty in March to one count of conspiracy to commit bank and wire fraud and one count of making false statements.

    De Armas was guilty of failing to report mortgage .......

    Job Swaps 19 June 2012

  • PM joins credit fund

    Keith Williams has joined Crestline Investors as md and senior portfolio manager. He will be responsible for growing Crestline's private credit strategies group and become co-portfolio manager of the Crestline Opportunity Fund II.

    Along with Chris Semple, who was hired last year as director and associate portfolio manager, Williams brings experience in sourcing and underwriting distressed debt, leveraged loans, buyouts .......

    Job Swaps 19 June 2012

  • Pepper gains Irish foothold

    Pepper Home Loans Group has agreed to purchase GE Capital Woodchester Home Loans, the Irish residential mortgage business of GE Capital, as it expands into Europe. Pepper will also take over the servicing of GE Capital's Irish portfolio of personal, small enterprise and auto loans.

    The newly-acquired company will be renamed Pepper Ireland and Pepper will hold all of the .......

    Job Swaps 19 June 2012

  • Irish RMBS rating drift examined

    Underlying collateral performance has deteriorated sharply, arrears management practices have become increasingly 'borrower-friendly' and sovereign creditworthiness has declined over the past four years in Ireland. All of these trends have contributed to a downward drift in ratings on Irish RMBS, according to S&P.

    While the Irish RMBS market accounts for only about 5% of total European RMBS issuance, the sector .......

    News Round-up 19 June 2012

  • Sovereign-linked downgrades highlighted

    S&P reports that rating actions on banks and sovereigns were once again the major factors affecting its European structured finance ratings in 1Q12. Both downgrades and upgrades increased, with most downgrades affecting RMBS transactions.

    "We took 1,594 rating actions in the quarter, comprising 1,100 downgrades and 494 upgrades. This represents a significant increase from the previous quarter, which saw 393 .......

    News Round-up 19 June 2012

  • Korean financial shock warning

    Moody's says that Korean household loans have characteristics that make them vulnerable to financial shocks and tail risks arising from the European debt crisis and China's economic slowdown.

    "This can lead to a deterioration in loan performance in Korea; in turn, exerting pressure on ABS and RMBS transactions," says Marie Lam, a Moody's vp and senior credit officer.

    The agency .......

    News Round-up 19 June 2012

  • Credit card ABS stress tested

    Most US credit card ABS trusts are well positioned to withstand a prolonged economic downturn beyond that experienced in 2008-2009, according to recent stress tests conducted by Fitch. The agency conducted one moderate and two severe stress scenarios across all US rated credit card ABS trusts to illustrate how ratings would perform in hypothetical, adverse macroeconomic environments.

    Fitch stressed the .......

    News Round-up 19 June 2012

  • Two more ML3 sales due

    The New York Fed has scheduled two further Maiden Lane III auctions for this month.

    The first will take place on 25 June and comprise Davis Square Funding I (US$396.62m) and VI (US$1.37bn), Fort Sheridan ABS CDO (US$615.69m), Lakeside CDO II (US$387.94m), Monroe Harbor CDO 2005-1 (US$1.07bn) and Streeterville ABS CDO (US$392.33m) assets. Barclays Capital, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, JPMorgan, .......

    News Round-up 19 June 2012

  • Tamweel sukuk marketing

    Tamweel is in the market with its second international Islamic RMBS - the US$235m Tamweel Residential RMBS (Cayman) IV. The first such transaction from the six countries of the Gulf Cooperative Council was issued in July 2007.

    The deal comprises a single class of notes, rated Aa3 by Moody's. Proceeds will fund the purchase of properties in Dubai and certain .......

    News 19 June 2012

  • DPCs eyed as SF counterparties

    Demand for higher rated structured finance (SF) counterparties appears to be driving renewed interest in derivative product companies (DPCs). The move has prompted Fitch to issue an exposure draft outlining its latest views on rating such vehicles.

    The agency notes that certain legal and structural aspects of DPCs did not perform as expected during the financial crisis, with many DPC .......

    News Round-up 19 June 2012

  • FGIC seeks rehabilitation

    Benjamin Lawsky, superintendent of the New York State Department of Financial Services, has filed a petition with the Supreme Court of the State of New York for an order of rehabilitation for Financial Guaranty Insurance Company (FGIC). The petition seeks to allow the department to take possession of the insurer's assets and to conduct its business, while taking steps towards .......

    News Round-up 19 June 2012

  • London law firm makes CRE hire

    Jeremy Trinder has joined Dechert's finance and real estate group. His practice incorporates all aspects of CRE, including loan origination and securitisation as well as workout and restructuring work. He also has experience in distressed debt.

    Trinder was most recently at White & Case and has also had stints at Sidley Austin and Lovells. He will be based in the .......

    Job Swaps 19 June 2012

  • Insurance solutions head appointed

    Christian Dinesen has joined StormHarbour in London as md and head of insurance solutions. He was most recently head of international credit research and European insurance credit analyst at Bank of America Merrill Lynch and before that served as head of S&P's European insurance practice.

    .......

    Job Swaps 18 June 2012

  • MBS, rates team expanded

    Zachary Pace, Aaron Read and Tai Vu have joined Gleacher & Company Securities' MBS and rates group. The group provides structured finance, research, sales and trading services on RMBS, ABS, US Treasury and government agency securities, CLOs, CDOs and other securities.

    Pace and Read join as directors while Vu becomes vp. Pace joins from Bank of America where he was .......

    Job Swaps 18 June 2012

  • Credit ratings office established

    Thomas Butler has been appointed director of the SEC's new Office of Credit Ratings. The office was created by the Dodd-Frank Act and is responsible for overseeing the nine registered Nationally Recognized Statistical Rating Organizations (NRSROs). Required among these responsibilities is conducting an annual examination of each credit rating agency and issuing a public report.

    Butler will oversee a staff .......

    Job Swaps 18 June 2012

  • CDS price discovery role highlighted

    IOSCO has released a report on the credit default swap market, which seeks to inform the ongoing regulatory debate on CDS and highlight some of the key policy issues emerging in the sector. The report was mandated by the G20 ahead of its summit that begins today in Los Cabos, Mexico.

    The report notes that over the last several years .......

    News Round-up 18 June 2012

  • APAC ratings remain stable

    Fitch reports that Asia-Pacific (APAC) structured finance (SF) tranches remain largely stable, with 85% of the tranches maintaining their ratings in 2011, unchanged from 2010.

    Downgrades outnumbered upgrades for the fourth year in a row and by an eight-to-one margin in 2011. The low number of upgrades last year can be partially attributed to the fact that about 46% of .......

    News Round-up 18 June 2012

  • Reduced CLO trading activity seen

    Managers of rated US CLOs reduced their trading activity again in 1Q12, furthering a trend that began four quarters ago, according to S&P. Part of the declining activity can be attributed to CLOs exiting their reinvestment periods over the last 12 months, which has generally limited their managers' ability to reinvest.

    US CLO managers executed about US$6.2bn in trades in .......

    News Round-up 18 June 2012

  • Full recovery for Lembi loan

    The US$90m Lembi portfolio, securitised in JPMCC 2007-LDP11, has been liquidated out of REO with full recovery. The pool consists of 11 multifamily and five mixed-use buildings in San Francisco. Both the associated US$25m B-note and US$17m mezzanine debt were held by Nomura.

    The property was transferred to special servicing (with CWCapital) in February 2009, after the borrower drew down .......

    News Round-up 18 June 2012

  • Further ML3 sales completed

    Another US$5.2bn of Maiden Lane III CDOs was successfully sold by the New York Fed on Friday (15 June). Credit Suisse emerged as the winning bidder for the US$617.5m of Davis Square Funding II, US$850m of Davis Square Funding III and US$1.36bn of Davis Square Funding V assets. Bank of America Merrill Lynch won the auction for the US$896.15m of .......

    News Round-up 18 June 2012

  • CRE CDO delinquencies dip

    Loan resolutions exceeded new US CRE CDO delinquencies over the past month, resulting in a net decline in Fitch's delinquency index for the sector. Delinquencies fell to 13% last month from 13.9% in April. The primary driver of the decline was the extension of the Kerzner International Portfolio loan, the agency notes.

    A modification and extension through to 2014 of .......

    News Round-up 18 June 2012
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