Complete news archive

  • ABS CDO sale due

    The trustee of Kent Funding II has been direction to sell and liquidate all of the ABS CDO's assets. The holders of at least two-thirds of the aggregate outstanding amount of each class of notes voted to liquidate the transaction on 9 September. All secured parties are eligible to bid at the upcoming public sales.

    .......

    News Round-up 15 September 2011

  • EM credit derivatives vet hired

    Renaissance Capital has hired Soroosh Shambayati as md and global co-head of markets, based in Moscow. He will be responsible for fixed income, currency and commodities across the firm's key geographies of Russia, the CIS, Central and Eastern Europe, Asia and Africa.

    Shambayati joins Renaissance from Nomura Securities, where he was chairman, global emerging markets. Prior to that, he worked .......

    Job Swaps 15 September 2011

  • Los Angeles partner recruited

    Bingham McCutchen has appointed Dan Passage as a partner in its structured transactions group based in the Los Angeles office. He has over 20 years of experience and was previously head of O'Melveny & Myers' securitisation practice. Passage has structured programmes for the origination, financing and securitisation of novel asset classes, such as life settlements, premium finance loans, annuities, patent .......

    Job Swaps 15 September 2011

  • UK SME GSE touted

    Adam Posen of the Bank of England suggested in a recent speech that the UK government establish an entity to help increase small business lending by purchasing and securitising SME loans from banks. Conceptually, the entity would be a government-sponsored institution similar to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in the US. Securitisations from the so-called British Enterprise Investment Entity could .......

    News Round-up 14 September 2011

  • Resolution rules adopted

    A final rule to be issued jointly by the FDIC and the US Fed to implement Section 165(d) of the Dodd-Frank Act has been approved. This provision requires bank holding companies with assets of US$50bn or more and companies designated as systemic by the Financial Stability Oversight Council to report periodically their plans for rapid and orderly resolution in the .......

    News Round-up 14 September 2011

  • CRA board proposal slammed

    SIFMA has submitted comments to the US SEC in response to a Dodd-Frank mandated study the Commission must undertake related to the assignment of credit ratings to structured financial products. The association says it strongly opposes the implementation of the 15E(w) system because it would represent an unprecedented intrusion of government control into a private financial market. Rather, it supports .......

    News Round-up 14 September 2011

  • Future ABCP growth questioned

    Traditional ABCP programmes remain sound structures post-financial crisis, though the regulatory landscape raises questions as to the prospects for growth going forward, Fitch reports.

    After reaching a high of nearly US$1.2trn in outstandings in the summer of 2007, the ABCP market nearly ground to a halt once the crisis began to take hold. While the non-traditional market value and extendible .......

    News Round-up 14 September 2011

  • CDS indices rebranded

    S&P's credit default swap indices are to be co-branded with ISDA and renamed the S&P/ISDA CDS Indices. The indices seek to reflect the CDS market for US corporate credits and increase transparency for market participants, the two entities say.

    Alexander Matturri, executive md at S&P Indices, comments: "S&P/ISDA CDS Indices offer market participants additional, important transparency and insight into the .......

    News Round-up 13 September 2011

  • BWIC blues?

    CDO holders resist pressure to sell

    Volatility in the wider market has resulted in price softening within secondary CLOs over the past couple of months. But, although investors are keen to capitalise on the opportunities presented, wider market concerns have yet to compel many holders of CDO paper to sell.

    According to data from Bank of America Merrill Lynch, the average DM for triple-A CLOs has .......

    News Analysis 13 September 2011

  • CDS quanto data introduced

    CMA has launched a new product that takes into account the CDS quanto spread of key Euro-zone sovereigns.

    Given European sovereign CDS are typically traded in US dollars and not the domestic currency, in order to accurately mark-to-market holders of sovereign and large corporate CDS need to understand the impact on domestic spreads from the implied change in the FX .......

    News Round-up 13 September 2011

  • OTC price verification service launched

    Tullett Prebon's OTC Valuations platform has rolled out a new OTC derivative price verification service aimed at high volume portfolios of vanilla through to complex products.

    Daily valuations are typically charged at US$0.20, which includes full price challenge support, automated portfolio submission and delivery of price files on a T+0 basis. This flexible service is made possible through automation of .......

    News Round-up 13 September 2011

  • Capital release fund minted

    IFC is set to invest US$100m in a capital release fund, marking the first time it is joining private investors to help banks free up existing capital and use it to boost loans to SMEs in emerging markets. The fund - established and managed by New York- and London-based Christofferson, Robb & Company - is raising an additional US$300m from .......

    News Round-up 13 September 2011

  • BlueMountain beefs up in Europe

    BlueMountain Capital Management has named David Rubenstein ceo of BlueMountain Europe. Rubenstein, who joined the firm in 2006, will also continue in his roles of both cfo and general counsel on a global basis. He succeeds Jeffrey Kushner, who is retiring from the asset management business and will move back to the US to pursue other opportunities.

    Transferring with Rubenstein .......

    Job Swaps 13 September 2011

  • Mixed performance for Mexican RMBS

    Fitch reports that the performance of Mexican RMBS transactions has suffered since 2008. While some portfolios have seen stabilisation since then, others continue to show signs of deterioration.

    180+ delinquencies have remained below 8% for most CEDEVIS transactions and below 3% for all TFOVIS transactions. In contrast, 180+ delinquencies for Sofoles/Sofomes-backed transactions have exceeded 20% and in some cases have .......

    News Round-up 13 September 2011

  • CRE CDO sold on

    CapLease has confirmed the sale of CapLease CDO 2005-1 to NRF Cap, an affiliate of NorthStar Realty Finance Corp (SCI 19 August). The sale, which generated total cash proceeds excluding accrued interest of approximately US$30.2m, primarily included the transfer of the CRE CDO's assets and liabilities. It also included the prepayment of three cross-collateralised first mortgage loans by the borrower.

    Job Swaps 12 September 2011

  • Swaps segregation supported

    ISDA has written to the CFTC in response to its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking regarding the protection of cleared swaps customer contracts and collateral.

    The association says it agrees with the Commission's selection of the complete legal segregation model as the most appropriate choice of holding model for cleared swaps collateral. Further, it regards this selection as an important first .......

    News Round-up 12 September 2011

  • Junior noteholders fail to halt CDO bankruptcy

    The US Bankruptcy Court for the District of New Jersey recently denied a junior noteholder's motion to dismiss an involuntary chapter 11 case commenced against ZING VII, a CDO-squared. According to a client memo from Willkie, Farr & Gallagher, the court's decision sets a new precedent for an offshore CDO issuer's senior noteholders to use a Chapter 11 proceeding to .......

    News 12 September 2011

  • SCI Start the Week - 12 September

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

    Pipeline
    Bank of America and Morgan Stanley have begun marketing their US$1.49bn Morgan Stanley Capital I Trust 2011-C3. The deal is first of an expected US$8bn US CMBS new issue pipeline through October, across seven deals, according to Citi securitised products analysts. MSC 2011-C3 includes a 30% super-senior block and a naturally rated AJ class with 19.125% subordination.
    S&P estimates that as .......

    News 12 September 2011

  • German SME CLOs perform strongly

    German balance sheet SME CLOs have performed well during the economic crisis, according to Fitch. Certain transactions have even outperformed some German auto ABS transactions, underlining their robust performance.

    Average total cumulative defaults across the 12 CLOs Fitch rates are approximately 2.5% of the initial transaction volumes since closing, with the average time since closing standing at four years.

    Fitch .......

    News Round-up 12 September 2011

  • HARP changes to benefit borrowers

    The White House has released a fact sheet indicating that barriers which exist for the current HARP programme will be removed to help more borrowers refinance their mortgages. The focus is expected to return to high LTV borrowers.

    FHFA director Edward Demarco says the agency is reviewing HARP's mechanics to find possible improvements that would reduce barriers for borrowers who .......

    News 12 September 2011

  • Cluster of deals on CMBS horizon

    US CMBS is about to experience a burst of activity as attention turns to a flurry of new deals, which will hit the market in the next couple of weeks. A US$1.491bn deal from Morgan Stanley and Bank of America Merrill Lynch, expected to price soon, will be leading the way.

    "The market has not been too busy lately, but .......

    Market Reports 9 September 2011
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