Complete news archive

  • US fixed-rate CMBS defaults approaching 13%

    Fitch's US CMBS cumulative default rate for fixed-rate CMBS increased to 12.9%, as of the end of 2Q11. This represents a 228bp increase compared to year-end 2010.

    "Limited conduit issuance so far this year has not yet helped to stabilise the cumulative CMBS default rate," says Fitch md Mary MacNeill. To date, US$9.95bn in new fixed rate conduit CMBS has .......

    News Round-up 29 July 2011

  • Falling grades?

    FFELP student loan ABS at risk

    The once unthinkable possibility of a US downgrade has quickly become a very real prospect, as the deadline for resolving the Federal debt ceiling and budget becomes imminent. A US downgrade would particularly affect FFELP student loan ABS, which would see its ratings move in lock-step.

    Moody's has placed almost US$200bn of triple-A rated FFELP ABS on review for possible .......

    News Analysis 29 July 2011

  • Bank of Ireland auction results in

    Inside markets, physical settlement requests and limit orders were yesterday (28 July) submitted by 13 dealers to The Governor and Company of the Bank of Ireland CDS auction. The auction consisted of seven buckets: senior/subordinated bucket 1 (for which the final price was determined to be 86.5); senior bucket 2 (76.625), 3 (72.875) and 6 (72.5); and subordinated bucket 2 .......

    News Round-up 29 July 2011

  • Lehman 'flip' appeal dismissed

    The UK Supreme Court in its ruling in the matter of Belmont Park Investments v BNY Corporate Trustee Services has dismissed the appeal by Lehman Brothers Special Finance (LSF) relating to the validity of an alleged anti-deprivation provision known as a 'flip' provision. The basis of LSF's argument was that the agreement and outcome had breached the 'anti-deprivation principle' under .......

    News Round-up 29 July 2011

  • 'Zombie' threat

    Bankruptcy-remote concept challenged

    Strategies to resolve 'zombie' CDOs come in many forms. But the latest to hit the market - the ZING VII case - has the potential, if successful, to undermine the traditional understanding of bankruptcy-remoteness.

    "Some opportunistic investors are buying up junior positions in distressed CDOs and then preventing them from being liquidated: the positions have value because they come with .......

    News Analysis 28 July 2011

  • Lehman CLO supply anticipated

    Lehman Brothers Holdings has entered into an agreement with WCAS Fraser Sullivan Investment Management, whereby Lehman's US$5.3bn loan portfolio will be transferred to the manager. Subject to court approval, the plan involves securitising around US$2.2bn of the portfolio via CLOs.

    The first such transaction, slated for about US$500m, is expected to occur within six months of the agreement being authorised. .......

    Job Swaps 28 July 2011

  • Euro auto ABS performance remains stable

    Fitch says in a quarterly report that the overall performance of the European auto ABS sector remained stable in 2Q11.

    A breakdown of the second quarter's performance shows that the Fitch 60-180 day Delinquency Index increased to 1% from 0.9% in 1Q11. The Fitch Net Loss Index remained stable at 0.5% and the Fitch Excess Spread Index increased by 0.3% .......

    News Round-up 28 July 2011

  • KBC CDO unwind to proceed

    KBC Group has received approval from the European Commission to amend its 2009 strategic plan and sell or unwind selected ABS and CDO assets. The bank confirms that sale/unwind will be subject to favourable market conditions going forward.

    Due to the impact of changes in the regulatory environment, some measures presented in the initial plan had become less effective in .......

    Job Swaps 28 July 2011

  • Healthy US CLO issuance to continue

    The pace of new US CLO issuance will likely remain healthy for the remainder of 2011, with little broader market interference, according to Fitch in its latest CLO Quarterly report.

    New CLO issuance volume exceeded US$5.8bn in the first two quarters of 2011, with another US$1.3bn pricing in the first three weeks of July. Fitch maintains its projection of issuance .......

    News Round-up 28 July 2011

  • Bank RMBS litigation to remain elevated

    Losses related to private-label RMBS litigation and representation and warranty (R&W) claims are likely to increase or remain elevated at some of the largest banks, according to Fitch.

    The settlement announced by Bank of America Corporation (BAC) may serve as a potential framework at least for some issuers and investors in private-label securities (PLS), in Fitch's view. Using the economics .......

    News Round-up 28 July 2011

  • Subprime contagion effect analysed

    Kamakura Corporation has released a policy-oriented research paper that uses a microeconomic model of the prime and subprime markets to measure the macroeconomic impact of subprime mortgage defaults on home prices in general and prime mortgage defaults in particular. The report is authored by Kamakura md for research Robert Jarrow, as well as Marius Ascheberg (Goethe University), Holger Kraft (Goethe .......

    News Round-up 28 July 2011

  • UBS targeted in FHFA suit

    The Federal Housing Finance Agency has filed a lawsuit in the federal district court for the Southern District of New York against UBS Americas and related defendants alleging violations of federal securities laws in the sale of private-label RMBS to Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. The FHFA is seeking to recover losses and damages sustained by the GSEs as a .......

    Job Swaps 28 July 2011

  • GS MST 2011-GC4 pulled due to CMBS review

    Goldman Sachs and Citi have been forced to withdraw their GS Mortgage Securities Trust 2011-GC4 CMBS from the market, even though the deal priced last week (SCI 25 July 2011). The move follows S&P's release of an 'Advanced Notice of Proposed Criteria Change', saying: "S&P will not currently assign ratings to transactions that are based on the US conduit/fusion criteria, .......

    News 28 July 2011

  • Aussie portfolio manager hired

    Western Asset Management, a wholly owned subsidiary of Legg Mason, has appointed Damon Shinnick to its Australian fixed income team. He joins as a portfolio manager and senior credit analyst.

    Shinnick joins a six-member team in Melbourne and will be responsible for formulating portfolio strategy and supplementing credit research in Australian and New Zealand markets. He will also be involved .......

    Job Swaps 27 July 2011

  • Challenges in implementing a counterparty risk management process

    David Kelly, director of credit products at Quantifi, explor...

    Most banks are in the process of setting up counterparty risk management processes or improving existing ones. Unlike market risk, which can be effectively managed by individual trading desks or traders, counterparty risk is increasingly being priced and managed by a central credit value adjustments (CVA) desk or risk control group since the exposure tends to span multiple asset classes .......

    Research Notes 27 July 2011

  • MBS consultancy absorbed

    Berliner Consulting & Research has been absorbed into Manhattan Advisory Services, a subsidiary of Manhattan Capital Markets. The firm will continue to focus on the mortgage and MBS markets, including on originator hedging and support, security valuation and investment selection and management.

    It was formed in September 2008 by William Berliner, who previously ran Countrywide's trade strategies group. He began .......

    Job Swaps 27 July 2011

  • SunTrust fined over ARS violations

    FINRA has fined SunTrust Robinson Humphrey and SunTrust Investment Services, for violations related to the sale of auction rate securities (ARS). SunTrust RH - which underwrote the ARS - was fined US$4.6m for failing to adequately disclose the increased risk that auctions could fail, sharing material non-public information, using sales material that did not adequately disclose the risks associated with .......

    Job Swaps 27 July 2011

  • Asset-based lender expands

    Capital Business Credit has recruited Peter Provenzale as senior business development officer and svp, focusing on middle market borrowers. He is tasked with expanding the firm's asset-based lending division, working directly with president and ceo Marc Adelson and executive chairman Andrew Tananbaum.

    Provenzale spent nearly 25 years at CIT in various capacities, including credit and marketing manager positions in both .......

    Job Swaps 27 July 2011

  • Freddie Mac vet turns advisor

    The Collingwood Group has retained Manoj Singh as a special advisor, to help its clients navigate the business opportunities that exist in Washington as a result of the housing crisis. Most recently, he was svp of pricing and securitisation (single family) and, before that, svp, head of market risk management for Freddie Mac. Prior to joining Freddie Mac, Singh held .......

    Job Swaps 27 July 2011

  • European SF outlook outlined

    Moody's says it holds a stable outlook on the performance of collateral underlying certain types of ABS and RMBS originated in France, Germany, the UK (prime only) and the Netherlands. However, it has a negative outlook on the performance of collateral underlying some types of ABS and RMBS originated in Italy, Spain, Greece, Ireland and Portugal.

    Specifically, Moody's has a .......

    News Round-up 27 July 2011

  • Consent received for GSC assignment

    All consents required for GSC Partners Gemini Fund, GSC Partners CDO Fund II and GSC Partners CDO Fund IV to enter into assignment agreements have been either received or deemed. Collateral management responsibilities for the transactions will now be transferred from GSCP to GSC Acquisition Holdings, an affiliate of Black Diamond Capital Management.

    Black Diamond has agreed to become a .......

    Job Swaps 27 July 2011
×