Complete news archive

  • 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

  • Card delinquencies near six-year low

    An unprecedented streak of declining US credit card delinquencies is rapidly dropping to a near six-year low, according to Fitch's latest Credit Card Index results. The results also show credit card charge-offs ticking up for the first time in four months and excess spread reaching new heights in the latest period.

    "US consumer credit quality has improved rapidly since the .......

    News Round-up 9 September 2011

  • CME Group gains clearing member

    BNP Paribas Securities Corp has joined CME Group to clear CDS. The bank is also able to clear futures and OTC interest rate swaps.

    As a CME clearing member for CDS, the firm says it will be better positioned to fulfill regulatory mandates that require credit derivatives between financial institutions to be cleared through a clearinghouse. The clearing solution will .......

    Job Swaps 9 September 2011

  • US CMBS delinquencies back off

    US CMBS delinquencies backed off the previous month's record high as US$3bn of loans left the Fitch Loan Delinquency Index in August, lowering the rate by 36bp to 8.65% from 9.01%, according to the latest index results. However, the agency says month-to-month volatility will likely persist.

    The potential for volatility was underscored by August's four largest loan resolutions, which accounted .......

    News Round-up 9 September 2011

  • Property play

    Special servicing M&A activity set to increase

    C-III Capital Partners' recent acquisition of JER Partners' special servicing and CDO businesses (SCI 23 August) underlines the importance of CMBS special servicing to many CRE companies' operations. But the inability of smaller special servicers to generate new business, combined with increasing interest from private equity money is expected to drive further M&A activity in the sector.

    The scarcity of .......

    News Analysis 9 September 2011

  • Tobacco bond review completed

    Moody's has concluded its review of tobacco settlement revenue bonds, following the 25 May publication of its updated cashflow modelling assumptions for the sector. The agency has downgraded 60 tranches in 13 securitisations, accounting for approximately US$3.5bn. It has also confirmed seven tranches in three securitisations (US$1.1bn) and upgraded 134 tranches in 27 securitisations (approximately US$3.5bn).

    The primary reason for .......

    News Round-up 9 September 2011

  • Advisory hires new London principal

    Amir Hoveyda has joined StormHarbour in London as a managing principal. His responsibilities will include developing and implementing the growth strategies of the firm's European capital markets and advisory businesses, helping manage the firm's overall European operations, and supporting the leadership of the firm worldwide as a member of the firm's global governance group. Hoveyda was most recently md and .......

    Job Swaps 8 September 2011

  • Tackling the overhang

    The risk of accelerated de-leveraging among peripheral European banks has emerged amid the current market volatility. Against this backdrop, an appropriate strategy appears to be one that shorts systemic risk and is long idiosyncratic risk.

    The main problem is that over the past ten years European bank balance sheets have doubled in size, growing by three times as much as .......

    News 8 September 2011

  • Liquidity-driven CDS indices minted

    Fitch Solutions has launched a new family of global CDS indices, which include 15 regional sovereign indices, over 40 industry-level corporate indices and a further 70 sub-sector corporate indices. The indices are designed to provide portfolio and risk managers with a comprehensive insight into the direction of credit risk, portfolio correlations and wider CDS market trends.

    The Corporate CDS Indices .......

    News Round-up 8 September 2011

  • Swaps clearing platform launched

    State Street has expanded its futures commission merchant activities to include the launch of a swaps clearing platform. The firm says its clearing capabilities are integrated with its existing servicing offering, forming a global end-to-end solution that reduces operational risk through automation of the many stages of derivatives processing. Clients have the option of either a complete solution for derivatives .......

    News Round-up 8 September 2011

  • Policyholder group trial scheduled

    In the latest development in the Article 78 proceeding brought by the structured finance policyholder group against MBIA and the New York State Insurance Department (SCI passim), Justice Barbara Kapnick of the New York State Supreme Court has entered an order providing for a trial date of 27 February - 23 March 2012, "barring any conflicts that may arise in .......

    Job Swaps 8 September 2011

  • Pay-offs barely move in August

    The percentage of loans paying off on their balloon date barely moved in August, according to the latest Trepp pay-off report.

    In August, 39.5% of loans reaching their balloon date paid off. This was just a shade lower than July's 39.6% reading. The August number was just above the 12-month rolling average of 39.2%.

    By loan count - as opposed .......

    News Round-up 7 September 2011

  • FICC md recruited

    Emmanuel Androulidakis has joined Macquarie Bank as md in fixed income, currencies and commodities. He was previously md, European asset-backed finance and trading at Cantor Fitzgerald. Before that, he was director and ABS/RMBS trader at RBS.

    .......

    Job Swaps 7 September 2011

  • EAF gets new investment officer

    Accounts receivables firm Equable Ascent Financial (EAF) has hired Trish Mattler as cio, responsible for business development, M&A and investor relations. She previously spent four years with Cerberus Capital Management, during which time she served as EAF's interim cfo and was a member of its board. Mattler has significant experience in finance, especially in the areas of M&A and structured .......

    Job Swaps 7 September 2011

  • Esoteric ABS pro added

    KGS-Alpha Capital Markets has recruited Robert Piano to its new ABS team. He joins from Barclays Capital after nine years in its asset securitisation group, where he was most recently a director specialising in esoteric asset transactions. At KGS-Alpha, Piano will lead the origination of secured financings in the institutional debt markets, including bank, ABS and private placements for primarily .......

    Job Swaps 7 September 2011

  • Revised South African RMBS criteria proposed

    Fitch is proposing to revise its mortgage loss criteria for South Africa. The agency has maintained South African RMBS notes on rating watch negative while it solicits feedback from market participants on the new criteria.

    The criteria proposals may result in downgrades for the notes currently on RWN, potentially from the triple-A rating scenario, since the proposed default probabilities (DP) .......

    News Round-up 7 September 2011

  • Improvements seen in timeshare delinquencies

    US timeshare delinquencies fell again this past quarter, according to Fitch's latest index results for the sector.

    The decline in delinquencies reflects not only the seasonal improvement that timeshare loans typically see in the spring and summer, but also year-over-year improvement. Now within range of historical averages, Fitch expects delinquencies to continue to follow seasonal patterns, but that year-over-year improvements .......

    News Round-up 7 September 2011

  • Agency CMBS on the rise

    Compared with pre-2009, when GSE issuance was relatively minimal and private investment bank transactions dominated the CMBS new issue market, agency deals now account for a more significant portion of the primary market.

    "Between 1995 and 2007, GSEs contributed anywhere from just under 3% to just over 11% of the total new issue CMBS market," says S&P research analyst James .......

    News Round-up 7 September 2011

  • Walkers forms ILS group

    Law firm Walkers is launching an insurance-linked securities (ILS) group, bringing together the expertise within the firm covering all alternative risk transfer instruments. The new group comprises dedicated, multi-jurisdictional lawyers advising clients on the legal and practical aspects of trading, financing and securitising risk involving Cayman Islands and Irish entities, including cash and synthetic catastrophe bonds, captive insurers, sidecars and .......

    Job Swaps 7 September 2011

  • Playing safe

    Investors repositioning as credit market turmoil continues

    As market volatility persists and participants try to predict when the bottom will come, the need to position structured credit portfolios properly becomes more pressing. Several CDO and CDS strategies are possible, with basis trading touted as a particularly attractive option.

    The strong market reaction to S&P's downgrade of the US triple-A rating and ongoing uncertainty about European sovereigns are two .......

    News Analysis 7 September 2011

  • Iberian valuations partnership formed

    Pricing Partners and Siag Consulting International have formed a partnership covering Iberia and Latin America. The two firms say that Siag's expertise in market and credit risk management provides deep domain expertise to partner with Pricing Partners in advising and supporting client valuation methodologies, given the increased requirement for accurate asset valuations, regulatory compliance and correct risk-adjusted capital management for .......

    Job Swaps 7 September 2011
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