Complete news archive

  • Florida cat bond marketing

    Goldman Sachs is marketing a US$200m catastrophe bond on behalf of Citizens Property Insurance - Everglades Re. The single tranche hurricane deal has been assigned a preliminary rating of single-B plus by S&P.

    Everglades Re covers ultimate net losses of Citizens from hurricanes in the state of Florida on a per-occurrence basis. Ultimate net loss does not include extra-contractual obligations .......

    News Round-up 5 April 2012

  • Noteholder divide

    Legacy investors seek Dutch de-risking

    Noteholder division over the competing Opera Finance (Uni-Invest) proposals is emerging (see also SCI 3 April). Some legacy holders of the CMBS paper look set to vote for the credit bid option as a way of reducing their exposure to Dutch secondary properties.

    "What concerns me is credit risk; specifically, Dutch secondary real estate risk," confirms one Opera Uni A .......

    News Analysis 5 April 2012

  • Non-agency payout discrepancies analysed

    Discrepancies between expected cashflows on non-agency RMBS based on collateral and actual bond payouts have increased over the past few years. If measured versus a very simplistic CRR/CDR framework, the differential can be as much as 15%-20%, according to MBS analysts at Barclays Capital.

    Such discrepancies, if not corrected, manifest themselves as over-predicting or under-predicting the cashflow on bonds. The .......

    News Round-up 5 April 2012

  • Fund manager picks president

    William Bohnsack has been promoted to president at Oak Hill Advisors. He has been coo at Oak Hill since 2001 and one of the firm's four senior partners since 2005.

    Bohnsack joined Oak Hill in 1993 and became partner in 1999. During his time at the firm he has worked as a senior professional investing in performing and distressed debt, .......

    Job Swaps 5 April 2012

  • CLO survey highlights regulatory concern

    JPMorgan has published the results of its latest CLO client survey, based on responses from 79 accounts. The results suggest that regulatory reform remains a key concern among market participants.

    Indeed, respondents pointed to risk retention as the most damaging regulation to CLO new issues, noting that the market is still waiting for guidance on risk retention as set out .......

    News Round-up 5 April 2012

  • 'Bad boy' rulings net credit positive for CMBS

    Michigan governor Rick Snyder last week signed into law the Nonrecourse Mortgage Loan Act, overturning two court rulings - known as the Cherryland/Chesterfield cases - that rocked the US commercial real estate space last December. The two decisions converted many 'bad-boy' non-recourse carve-out guaranties effectively into full credit recourse guaranties any time an SPE CRE borrower becomes insolvent, even if .......

    News Round-up 5 April 2012

  • New US CMBS defaults set to slow

    The pace of new US CMBS defaults will slow again this year, as seen in 2011, according to Fitch's latest annual default study. The cumulative default number is expected to reach 14.5% by the end of 2012.

    The cumulative CMBS default rate closed out last year at 12.7% (US$71.3 billion). New defaults finished 2011 38% lower (950 loans totalling US$13.7bn) .......

    News Round-up 5 April 2012

  • FINRA fines broker for CMO mark-ups

    A FINRA hearing panel has ruled that David Lerner Associates (DLA) charged excessive mark-ups on municipal bond and CMO transactions. DLA has been fined US$2.3m and ordered to pay restitution of more than US$1.4m plus interest.

    DLA head trader William Mason has also been fined US$200,000 and suspended from the securities industry for six months. FINRA found that DLA and .......

    Job Swaps 5 April 2012

  • Maturity spike for Euro CMBS

    April is set to be another important month for European CMBS. There are 16 transactions subject to loan maturities this month, six of which have more than one loan maturing. Over half of the loans are expected to remain outstanding at the end of the year, with German loans underperforming UK loans.

    Discounting loans already in payment default or extended .......

    News 4 April 2012

  • CMBS delinquency rate jumps

    The US CMBS delinquency rate jumped by 31bp in March to 9.68%, according to Trepp. The value of delinquent loans is now US$58.1bn.

    Newly delinquent loans - accounting for over US$5bn in total - put 91bp of upward pressure on the rate. Multifamily and office loans were the worst performing property types, with each suffering significant losses.

    The office delinquency .......

    News Round-up 4 April 2012

  • FFELP SLABS criteria tweaked

    Fitch has updated its FFELP student loan ABS criteria. While largely unchanged from the perspective of rating methodology and analytical approach, the updates incorporate several enhancements to the agency's credit analysis.

    These include: the revision of basis stress assumptions due to the special allowance payment (SAP) index change; highlighting the US sovereign rating as one of the key rating drivers; .......

    News Round-up 4 April 2012

  • Basel 3 progress reviewed

    The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision has published its second progress report on the implementation of Basel 3 by member countries. The Committee has also commenced a programme of peer reviews to assess whether its members' national rules and regulations are consistent with the globally agreed minimum standards.

    These reviews will identify differences that could raise prudential or level playing .......

    News Round-up 4 April 2012

  • Warring over reps

    Countrywide settlement could open floodgates

    The US$8.5bn Countrywide settlement is the only sizeable potential RMBS representation and warranty recovery achieved so far. The key to the success of other such settlements is whether trustees follow BNY Mellon's lead and be more proactive.

    The Countrywide settlement has been back and forth through the courts and is still subject to judicial approval (SCI 28 February). The process .......

    News Analysis 4 April 2012

  • Chinese securitisation moves forward

    A fully-fledged securitisation market in China looks to be edging closer following the announcement of a new pilot programme that will allow some Chinese commercial lenders to securitise financial assets, according to a new report from law firm Dechert.

    Recent news reports indicate that the trial securitisation programme will involve up to US$7.9bn of securitised assets, the report says. "Eligible .......

    News Round-up 4 April 2012

  • Tough call

    Opera Uni proposals weighed

    Whether Opera Finance (Uni-Invest) noteholders vote for a consensual restructuring or the credit bid option on 17 April is said to be too close to call. Such a dual-track strategy is designed to ensure that there will be an outcome, but there is a real chance noteholders will fail to agree on either proposal - in which case the transaction .......

    News Analysis 3 April 2012

  • Securitised products team reorganised

    Dale Westhoff is changing roles within Credit Suisse to focus on Locus, the bank's fixed income analytics platform for interest rate products, derivatives and structured products. He will work alongside George Oomman.

    Westhoff previously led Credit Suisse's securitised products research team. He will be succeeded by Roger Lehman, who will take the position alongside his current role as lead CMBS .......

    Job Swaps 3 April 2012

  • Utility appeal

    ED approaches home straight

    The European DataWarehouse (ED) is approaching its projected summer 2012 launch. Securitisation market participants are awaiting final confirmation of the remaining data templates and funding structures under the initiative.

    Elana Hahn, partner at Morrison & Foerster in London who is acting as lead counsel to ED, says that one of the main challenges of the initiative has been in establishing .......

    News Analysis 3 April 2012

  • LBIE judgment welcomed

    ISDA has welcomed the Court of Appeal's judgment handed down today in the appeal case of 'Lomas and others v JFB Firth Rixson, Inc and others'.

    In the Firth Rixson case, four out-of-the-money corporate counterparties had declined to terminate their ISDA Master Agreements with Lehman Brothers International Europe (LBIE), relying on Section 2(a)(iii) of the ISDA Master Agreement not to .......

    News Round-up 3 April 2012

  • FFELP SLABS review hits

    Moody's has placed on review for possible downgrade the ratings of 189 tranches in 24 US FFELP student loan ABS from eight issuers, following the publication of its new methodology for the sector (SCI 20 January). At the same time, five subordinate tranches in five transactions were placed on review for possible upgrade. Approximately US$7.5bn of securities are affected as .......

    News Round-up 3 April 2012

  • Proprietary index valuation service offered

    Pricing Partners has launched what it describes as a first-to-market valuation service for proprietary indices. The enhancement is designed to allow firms to price and benchmark their proprietary indices in an accurate and transparent manner.

    Offering strategies with high alpha and low beta, proprietary indices have been developed by investment banks to mimic hedge funds - albeit with better transparency, .......

    News Round-up 3 April 2012

  • Strong performance for new US RMBS

    The early performance of recently issued US RMBS transactions has been strong thus far, reflecting the high credit quality of the underlying mortgage pools, according to Fitch. Only a single borrower is delinquent of the approximately 1,800 newly-originated prime loans securitised in five Redwood Trust private-label transactions since the start of 2010. The agency expects the status of the single .......

    News Round-up 2 April 2012
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