Complete news archive

  • Competition questions

    Trade execution, fragmentation in the spotlight

    The issues of anonymity and real-time trade acceptance under Dodd-Frank appear to be splitting the OTC derivatives dealer community. At the same time, the competitive landscape is also proving tricky for CCPs.

    "Real-time trading is at the heart of Title VII of the Dodd-Frank Act," explains James Cawley, ceo of Javelin Capital Markets. "If a participant knows in a millisecond .......

    News Analysis 20 January 2012

  • Mortgage servicer enters CRE space

    Oakwood Global Finance has hired Emily Hadley as head of CRE loan servicing, marking the company's first foray into the CRE sector. The mortgage servicer already has £2.5bn AUM in the residential space.

    Hadley joins from American Appraisal where she was director and head of debt advisory in the UK. She has previously managed distressed CRE debt at Barclays Capital .......

    Job Swaps 20 January 2012

  • New member for NY law firm

    Kleinberg, Kaplan, Wolff & Cohen has made Euchung Ung a member of the firm, effective from the start of this year. Ung practices in the firm's real estate group in New York.

    Ung advises on the acquisition, disposition, development, management and leasing of office, retail, commercial and hotel properties. He also advises hedge funds and private equity funds on the .......

    Job Swaps 20 January 2012

  • Credit opportunities fund minted

    AnaCap Financial Partners has held a successful first round of closings of its Credit Opportunities Fund II, with commitments already at £265m after five months of marketing. The fund - which has a hard cap of £350m - targets performing, semi-performing or non-performing consumer and SME debt, including loans, leases, securities or other obligations requiring active asset management.

    It will .......

    News Round-up 20 January 2012

  • Listing first for RMBS fund

    Alternative investment fund marketplace AlphaMetrix Global Marketplace (AGM) has listed its first dedicated RMBS fund. The fund is managed by Performance Trust Investment Advisors (PTIA), headed by cio Peter Cook and president Douglas Rothschild.

    "We are extremely excited to list our RMBS opportunity funds on the AlphaMetrix Global Marketplace, as it provides us the opportunity to present our unique strategy .......

    Job Swaps 20 January 2012

  • Asset correlation to increase in importance

    Greater investor scrutiny of individual assets within structured finance portfolios is a growing trend that could in time help to restore confidence in financial institutions' funding and investment, according to the 2012 Market Insight report by Bishopsfield Capital Partners. The report also argues that 'cherry picking' of assets by investors will increasingly dictate strategies available to banks as they continue .......

    News Round-up 20 January 2012

  • SEMT 2012-1 qualities highlighted

    S&P has published an unsolicited comment on the Sequoia Mortgage Trust 2012-1 RMBS, which is expected to close on 27 January. The agency has reviewed the preliminary term sheet filed with the SEC and the publicly available loan-level data on this transaction, and says that the collateral characteristics compare favourably to an S&P archetypical pool.

    Further, the agency notes the .......

    News Round-up 20 January 2012

  • FFELP SLABS targeted

    Moody's has issued an RFC on a proposed update to the cashflow assumptions it uses when rating FFELP student loan securitisations. If implemented, the agency warns that it would expect to downgrade the ratings of approximately US$20bn of outstanding FFELP student-loan backed transactions - about 10% of the FFELP securities it rates.

    The key cashflow assumptions Moody's proposes updating are .......

    News Round-up 20 January 2012

  • Low loss rates predicted for auto ABS

    Losses fell for both prime and subprime US auto loan ABS last month. Fitch expects more of the same for the first half of 2012, based on its latest index results for the sector.

    Performance has been supported by two consecutive months of stronger used vehicle values and some positive economic data in the US. With these factors supporting asset .......

    News Round-up 20 January 2012

  • Kodak credit event called

    ISDA's Americas Credit Derivatives Determinations Committee has resolved that a bankruptcy credit event occurred in respect of Eastman Kodak Company. An auction will be held in respect of outstanding CDS transactions on the name.

    .......

    News Round-up 20 January 2012

  • Greek deals cut on rising risk of disorderly default

    Moody's has downgraded 22 notes in 11 Greek structured finance transactions, including two tranches of two ABS, 19 tranches of eight RMBS and one tranche in one CLO. The rating action concludes the review initiated on 11 November 2011 on the back of the increased risk of a disorderly default of Greece on its debt, which would increase the likelihood .......

    News Round-up 20 January 2012

  • ML II sale completed

    The New York Fed has sold US$7bn in face amount of assets from its Maiden Lane II (ML II) portfolio to Credit Suisse through a competitive process. The regulator says the transaction was prompted by an unsolicited offer from Goldman Sachs to BlackRock Solutions, the investment manager for ML II, in January 2012 to buy a portion of ML II .......

    News Round-up 20 January 2012

  • Euro CMBS sparks into life

    The European secondary CMBS market has seen a pick-up in activity over the last few days. However, activity is effectively limited to smaller players and broader market involvement still remains elusive.

    "The market has not been extremely busy and clients' involvement is fairly limited, but they are definitely getting more involved in buying seniors. There is less interest in mezz, .......

    Market Reports 20 January 2012

  • Potential SEF adds svp

    TeraExchange has appointed Marti Tirinnanzi as business development svp. She will be head of the firm's Washington DC office.

    Tirinnanzi was most recently chairman of the FHFA's clearinghouse working group. She has worked with the US Congress, CFTC and other regulatory agencies and helped draft Title VII of the Dodd-Frank Act.

    TeraExchange is a service of Spring Trading, which has .......

    Job Swaps 20 January 2012

  • Catching the wave

    CMBS loan mod, refi likelihood explored

    December saw the second highest volume of US CMBS loan modifications ever, after the GGP-related spike in 2010. The most visible increase in liquidations during the month, meanwhile, came from the 2007 vintage - ahead of the wave of five-year loans due to mature in 2012.

    Among the CMBS loans resolved and modified last month were a number of high-profile .......

    News Analysis 19 January 2012

  • Increasing visibility

    Corporate trust service providers explore post-crisis landscape

    Representatives from leading corporate trust service providers met with SCI late last year to discuss the post-financial crisis trustee and agency landscape. Regulatory and market infrastructure challenges were at the forefront of their minds. (The full SCI Corporate Trust Roundtable discussion can be downloaded here.)

    The role of the corporate trust service provider
    Corinne Smith, SCI:     Increased volume of .......

    News Analysis 19 January 2012

  • Henderson names new credit head

    Colin Fleury, head of ABS at Henderson, is being promoted to head of structured products and advisory, which is being renamed secured credit. Former structured products head Jim Irvine is also being promoted and becomes head of fixed income.

    .......

    Job Swaps 19 January 2012

  • OTC valuation tool enhanced

    CMA has released CMA NAVigate 1.9, which introduces the ability to upload counterparty marks, set reporting tolerance levels and generate portfolio variance reports. The solution aims to provide customers with the environment, data and tools to manage the generation of independent OTC derivative valuation reports.

    Other key features of the service include the ability to: examine all underlying cashflows, discount .......

    News Round-up 19 January 2012

  • Law firm beefs up APAC team

    Aaron Comerford has joined Clifford Chance's Tokyo office as counsel on the derivatives and structured products team. He was previously at Allen & Overy and specialises in structured credit derivatives transactions, financial guarantee products, synthetic instruments and structured equity derivatives.

    Wendy Yeo has also been promoted to counsel. She focuses on derivatives and structured products and advises investment banks, dealers, .......

    Job Swaps 19 January 2012

  • Bespoke CDS appetite persists

    Bespoke structured credit activity continues in various guises in both the primary and secondary markets, despite the increasingly punitive regulatory environment. While most of the legacy structured credit market is no longer deemed to be distressed - and is also much smaller than it was in 2008, with around 1000 products today versus 3000 at the peak - significant risk-transfer .......

    News 18 January 2012

  • FDIC acts on stress test, resolution rules

    The FDIC has approved a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPR) that would require certain large insured depository institutions to conduct annual capital-adequacy stress tests. It has also approved a final rule requiring an insured depository institution with US$50bn or more in total assets to submit periodic contingency plans for resolution in the event of the institution's failure.

    The NPR, which .......

    News Round-up 18 January 2012
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