Complete news archive

  • Flexibility sought for counterparty criteria

    Fitch is set to propose enhancements to its structured finance (SF) counterparty criteria. The proposals will build on the existing framework in order to allow more flexibility to keep pace with a rapidly changing counterparty environment.

    The proposals will be detailed in a consultation paper in March, with a one-month period for market participants to provide feedback. Fitch expects limited .......

    News Round-up 14 February 2012

  • Italian RMBS stress tested

    Fitch expects that approximately 80% of Italian triple-A rated RMBS tranches would be able to pay in full following a three-year severe recession and collapse of the country's real estate market. The transactions were stress tested against a concurrent doubling of unemployment to around 17%, an increase in interest rates to 9% and residential real estate crash with a 70% .......

    News Round-up 14 February 2012

  • Mystic Re III on the blocks

    Aon Benfield Securities and Swiss Re Capital Markets are marketing the third deal from Liberty Mutual's Mystic Re catastrophe bond programme, the first since 2009. The two-tranche deal will be based on the ultimate net losses of the ceding insurer from US hurricanes and earthquakes, including fire following, on a per-occurrence basis.

    Mystic Re III's series 2012-1 class A notes .......

    News Round-up 14 February 2012

  • Japanese recoveries reviewed

    S&P has released a report detailing the results of a survey that it conducted on the recovery of defaulted loans backing rated CMBS transactions in Japan, as of the end of December 2011.

    From the second quarter of 2008 - when the first underlying loan of a Japanese CMBS transaction defaulted - to the end of December 2011, 129 loans .......

    News Round-up 14 February 2012

  • Legal team moves on

    Chapman and Cutler has recruited six partners for its newly-established office in Washington DC. Felicia Graham, Douglas Madsen, Michael Mitchell, Mark Riccardi, Craig Fishman and Rachel George all join from Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe.

    All six attorneys have significant structured finance practices. Graham represents clients in ABCP transactions, asset-backed financings and structured products. She also has a longstanding practice as .......

    Job Swaps 14 February 2012

  • Risk analytics firm acquired

    S&P Capital IQ has bought R² Financial Technologies. The acquisition of R²'s team of more than 30 financial engineers and technology specialists will strengthen S&P's cross-asset portfolio analytics and offer its clients an integrated view of market and credit risks across asset classes.

    R² Financial Technologies offers multi-asset class portfolio and risk analytics delivered in real-time to front and middle .......

    Job Swaps 13 February 2012

  • Non-agency RMBS still rallying

    The rally in US non-agency RMBS continued last week, but may now be getting ahead of itself. Subprime prices were up by half a point or a point on the week, while average generic spreads on non-investment grade bonds were between 25bp and 50bp.

    RMBS analysts at Bank of America Merrill Lynch put last week's BWIC volumes at US$1.3bn in .......

    News 13 February 2012

  • Problem solved?

    Index CCDS launch approaches

    Credit derivative dealers and CVA desks are gearing up for the introduction of index-linked contingent CDS (CCDS), which it is hoped will not only constitute an effective hedge for CVA regulatory capital charges, but will also be more liquid and cost effective than the single name variety. However, outstanding issues remain that could limit meaningful supply of the product in .......

    News Analysis 13 February 2012

  • Structured credit head appointed

    Avoca Capital Holdings has appointed Vaibhav Piplapure as head of structured and illiquid credit. He joins from Credit Suisse, where he was head of asset finance for Europe within the securitised products group.

    Piplapure's new role will see him focus on managing allocations to structured credit from Avoca's €500m Credit Opportunities Fund. He is also expected to raise further funds .......

    Job Swaps 13 February 2012

  • DECO structural strengths highlighted

    Deutsche Bank has priced its new CMBS, the £210m DECO 2012 MHILL (SCI 6 February). Rated by DBRS and S&P, the £145m AAA/AAA class A notes printed at 300bp over Libor, the £30m AA high/AA class Bs at 450bp over and the £35m A high/A class Cs at 550bp. The single-loan deal has a 4.45-year WAL and a legal final .......

    News Round-up 13 February 2012

  • Maturity defaults drive deterioration in Euro CMBS

    Fitch says in a new report that maturity defaults continue to drive deterioration in its European CMBS portfolio. In 4Q11, 22.8% of all loans were in maturity default, a steep increase from 17.5% in 3Q11, it notes.

    Due to a combination of standstill agreements, restructurings and loan extensions, the proportion of loans that has been declared in default is slightly .......

    News Round-up 13 February 2012

  • Euro SF default rate remains low

    S&P reports in its latest transition study for the sector that the overall default rate for European structured finance securities has remained low. By year-end 2011, only 1% of the securities outstanding in mid-2007 had defaulted and the 12-month rolling default rate stabilised at 0.5%. In addition, about 54% of the securities are estimated to have redeemed in full.

    "Based .......

    News Round-up 13 February 2012

  • SCI Start the Week - 13 February

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

    Pipeline
    Many deals entered the pipeline last week only to price by the end of it. Only two transactions remained on Friday: a £1.01bn whole business securitisation sponsored by Center Parcs (CPUK Finance) and a US$75m ILS from Munich Re (Queen Street V Re).

    Pricings
    The week saw eleven deals pricing, including two auto floorplan ABS (US$1.6bn Ford Credit Master Owner Trust .......

    News 13 February 2012

  • AG settlement a 'net positive'

    Fitch believes that the final State Attorneys General settlement agreement with US residential mortgage servicers is a net positive that reduces some uncertainty and is likely to be felt industry-wide. The agreement resolves some of the subject servicer's outstanding liability for process errors, provides additional relief to at-risk borrowers and is another step in formalising servicing industry best practices, the .......

    News Round-up 10 February 2012

  • Office, retail delinquencies hit new highs

    Delinquencies for office and retail loans have hit their highest-ever levels while overall US CMBS delinquencies fell for the sixth straight month, according to Fitch's latest US CMBS Loan Delinquency Index.

    CMBS late-pays declined by 5bp in January to 8.32% from 8.37% a month earlier. The improvement was driven by multifamily loans, which saw a 165bp plunge in its rate .......

    News Round-up 10 February 2012

  • Securitisation lawyer joins Mexico office

    Haynes and Boone has recruited Jorge Labastida as a partner in its finance practice group in Mexico City. He joins from Bufete Labastida, where he was the founding partner of the banking and finance practice.

    Labastida's practice focuses on structured cross-border finance, including securitisations of a wide variety of asset types, leasing, synthetic leasing and multi-jurisdictional tax-enhanced structures, real estate .......

    Job Swaps 10 February 2012

  • Cat bonds on the up

    Thierry Berthold, co-head of insurance and European structur...

    There is good reason to be optimistic for the catastrophe bond market in 2012, particularly in Europe. Asset managers are showing an increasing willingness to accept cat bonds as a viable asset class and the increase in new capital via dedicated ILS funds is likely to continue, as experienced in 2011.

    This should maintain the virtuous circle, with more capital .......

    Talking Point 10 February 2012

  • Modest RMBS impact from AG settlement

    The US federal government and 49 state attorneys general (all states except Oklahoma) have reached a US$25bn agreement with the nation's five largest mortgage servicers to address mortgage loan servicing and foreclosure abuses (SCI passim). The move is expected to have a limited impact on non-agency RMBS modifications, with foreclosure rolls likely remaining slow for the rest of the year.

    News 10 February 2012

  • Latest Queen Street issue marketing

    Munich Re is in the market with its latest catastrophe bond - the US$75m Queen Street V Re. Rated single-B plus by S&P, the notes will be exposed to major North Atlantic hurricane risk in selected US states between April 2012 and March 2015 and major European windstorms between October 2012 and March 2015.

    Munich Re will be the cedant .......

    News Round-up 10 February 2012

  • EMIR agreed

    European Parliament and Council representatives yesterday agreed on the text of the European Market Infrastructure Regulation (EMIR), which will regulate trade in OTC derivatives. The rules require OTC derivatives to be cleared through CCPs, with all derivative contracts to be reported to trade repositories.

    Under the legislation, trade repositories will have to publish aggregate positions by class of derivatives. The .......

    News Round-up 10 February 2012

  • CRE auction activity continues

    Large 'geo-series' CRE sales posted on auction.com helped drive US CMBS conduit liquidation volumes in 2011. The signs are that in the first part of this year at least they will continue to have a major impact on the sector.

    Auction.com has already listed property-level details for three large note/REO auctions for 1Q12. Scheduled for February and March, they account .......

    News 10 February 2012
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