Complete news archive

  • 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

  • SEC fines UBS investment arm

    The US SEC has charged UBS Global Asset Management with failing to properly price securities in three mutual funds it managed, resulting in a misstatement to investors of the NAVs of those funds.

    The misconduct was discovered during an SEC investigation, triggered by a referral from SEC examiners. The investigation determined that during a two-week period the company did not .......

    Job Swaps 18 January 2012

  • CatVest launches ILS, ILW tools

    CatVest Petroleum Services has launched its EnergyRisk Model and Industry Loss Index. The firm's modelling services are specifically designed to assist with the transfer of risks to the capital markets through the use of financial instruments, such as ILS and ILWs.

    CatVest has devised a suite of modelling tools that it claims allows for accurate estimation, analyses, calculation and indexing .......

    News Round-up 18 January 2012

  • Assurant returns with latest Ibis Re deal

    Assurant is to sell a third issuance of notes from its Ibis Re II programme, having last tapped the market in April 2010. Ibis Re II 2012-1 will issue approximately US$70m of double-B minus rated class A three-year notes and US$30m of single-B minus class B three-year notes, covering US hurricane risk.

    The transaction has been structured by Aon Benfield .......

    News Round-up 18 January 2012

  • SEAT LCDS price determined

    The final price for trades referencing SEAT PAGINE GIALLE was determined to be 45 during yesterday's SEAT LCDS auction. Three dealers submitted initial markets, physical settlement requests and limit orders to the auction administered by Creditex and Markit.

    .......

    News Round-up 18 January 2012

  • KBRA debuts RMBS presale

    Kroll Bond Rating Agency has published its inaugural RMBS presale report, having assigned preliminary ratings to eight classes of mortgage pass-through certificates from Sequoia Mortgage Trust 2012-1. The transaction is secured by two pools of first-lien residential mortgage loans secured by one-to-four family residential properties, condominiums, coops, planned unit developments and townhouses.

    Pool 1 comprises 120 hybrid ARM mortgage loans .......

    News Round-up 18 January 2012

  • ABCP PWCE criteria changes proposed

    S&P has published a request for comment (RFC) on proposed changes to the methodologies and assumptions it uses to rate fully and partially credit-enhanced multiseller ABCP conduits. The RFC focuses specifically on proposed criteria for the minimum amount of programme-wide credit enhancement (PWCE) required to maintain an A-1+ or A-1 rating on commercial paper issued by multiseller ABCP conduits.

    If .......

    News Round-up 18 January 2012

  • OTC trade repository recommendations released

    CPSS and IOSCO have published their final report on the OTC derivatives data that should be collected, stored and disseminated by trade repositories (TRs). The committees support the view that TRs, by collecting such data centrally, would provide authorities and the public with better and more timely information on OTC derivatives. The aim is to make markets more transparent, help .......

    News Round-up 18 January 2012

  • EM investor joins new Swiss office

    Alexander Nagel has joined Global Evolution with a focus on formulating absolute return strategies within emerging markets debt and FX. He will join the company in Switzerland, where it is currently establishing an office.

    Nagel was most recently at EM Quest Capital in London where he focused on global emerging markets fixed income. He has also previously held senior portfolio .......

    Job Swaps 18 January 2012

  • Risk specialists team up

    RangeMark Financial Services and Cooperstein Analytics (CA) have established RangeMark Analytics (RA). RA will license its analytics platform to financial institutions, investors and government agencies for valuation and risk assessment of mortgage loans, RMBS and CMBS.

    RangeMark has acquired the exclusive rights to CA's fixed-income valuation platform. Richard Cooperstein will become president of the RangeMark affiliate and Colin Strasser will .......

    Job Swaps 18 January 2012

  • Mexican SF specialist enlisted

    Juan Manuel Gonzalez Bernal has joined Greenburg Traurig's newly established Mexico City office as a shareholder. He joins the global energy and infrastructure practice.

    Gonzalez practices in DCM and advises on structured financings and cross-border banking and securities transactions. He joins from the law firm of Galicia Abogados and is licensed to practice law in both Mexico and New York. .......

    Job Swaps 18 January 2012

  • Industry vets form CRE firm

    A new firm has launched in the CRE space, offering a source of capital solutions and expertise. SL Capital is an affiliate of The Lynd Company, providing capital from US$3m to US$200m-plus for commercial loan programmes and non-performing notes.

    The company offers a variety of national loan programmes including CMBS, multifamily financing, mezzanine debt, preferred equity, bridge loans and senior .......

    Job Swaps 18 January 2012

  • Markit adds CDS sensitivities

    Markit is supplementing its end-of-day prices for credit default swaps with a new sensitivities report that is designed to give clients valuable information about the relationship between a CDS price and other market variables.

    The new Markit CDS Sensitivities service gives clients the ability to understand how sensitive a particular CDS spread level is to changes in interest rates, credit .......

    News Round-up 17 January 2012

  • Risk executive hired

    RiskSpan has appointed John Lynch as executive of its independent pricing service. He was most recently vp and head of valuations at Alliance Bernstein.

    Lynch has previously worked for Blackrock, AIG, UBS and EJV in a series of senior pricing and valuation roles and while at EJV he was responsible for building a pricing business from scratch.

    .......

    Job Swaps 17 January 2012

  • 'Credit positive' reforms for INFONAVIT

    Recent reforms of the INFONAVIT Law should result in better asset quality in new mortgage loans that are eligible for securitisation in the future, according to Moody's. One of the most significant items from a credit perspective is that INFONAVIT will be able to originate peso-denominated mortgage loans.

    Peso-denominated mortgage loans provide more payment certainty for borrowers than indexed loans .......

    News Round-up 17 January 2012

  • Mixed outlook for aircraft ABS

    Fitch's outlook for aircraft ABS performance in 2012 remains mixed. While base-case expectations call for relatively stable aircraft values and lease rates, a eurozone debt crisis-driven recession could substantially affect that outlook. Downgrades on aircraft-related securitisations will likely surpass upgrades in 2012, particularly among older vintage transactions, the agency notes.

    Fitch expects that despite the upcoming delivery of newer technology .......

    News Round-up 17 January 2012

  • Partial benefit

    TRACE data having mixed liquidity impact

    The US structured trading activity and pricing information that FINRA has made available to the market over the last few months has broadly boosted liquidity, particularly for agency MBS. However, more granular detail is required to make the data on other ABS segments equally as valuable.

    The information FINRA is releasing is based on TRACE data (SCI 18 October 2011). .......

    News Analysis 17 January 2012

  • OTC compression rates rise

    TriOptima's triReduce compression service for both interest rate and credit default swaps terminated US$62trn in OTC derivative notional principal outstanding in 2011. This included US$56.4trn in interest rate swap notional principal, of which US$48.3trn were cleared swaps in LCH SwapClear, and US$5.6trn in CDS notional principal. This represented a 14% increase over 2010 levels overall and a 23% increase in .......

    News Round-up 17 January 2012

  • TITN 2006-4FS steps up

    The borrower behind the Titan Europe 2006-4FS CMBS has given notice in connection with the Four Seasons loan that it will not meet the minimum prepayment amount. As a result, investors will receive a step-up in coupon for both the class A1 and A2 notes.

    The borrower intends to retain the investment properties that were going to be sold to .......

    News Round-up 17 January 2012

  • Downgrades likely on SME CLO criteria change

    S&P has issued a request for comment on a proposed revision to its methodology and assumptions for rating SME CLOs. The agency is proposing to adopt the global methodology for rating corporate CDOs, where appropriate, and adapting for the European SME market and the characteristics of the securitised portfolios. The aim is to enhance ratings comparability across sectors, the agency .......

    News Round-up 17 January 2012
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