Complete news archive

  • Op risk vet recruited

    Allonhill has recruited Jim Sadler as md of business process management and analytics. He is charged with developing custom analytics to measure and report the firm's performance and help establish a new client-facing implementation team.

    Sadler brings more than 20 years of operational risk management, process management and financial modeling experience to Allonhill. Most recently, he served as director of .......

    Job Swaps 4 July 2011

  • Some Countrywide RMBS to see ratings uplift

    Fitch expects Bank of America's recently announced settlement of mortgage repurchase and servicing claims (SCI 29 June) to positively affect the ratings of approximately 10% of Fitch-rated US RMBS bonds in the affected legacy Countrywide trusts. In addition, payouts from the settlement in the short term and improved servicing practices over the longer term are likely to further improve recovery .......

    News Round-up 1 July 2011

  • CMBS maturity repayment index rises

    Fitch says in its latest European CMBS bulletin that full and partial prepayments caused its European CMBS Maturity Repayment Index to increase during June to 40.4% from 38.3%. These repayments also reduced the outstanding matured loan balance by 3.4% to €6.99bn.

    Overall, 65 of the 154 loans that have matured since 2007 have been fully repaid. No loans matured in .......

    News Round-up 1 July 2011

  • US RMBS criteria updated

    Fitch has updated three criteria reports designed to better gauge credit risk on new issue US RMBS transactions. The agency confirms that originator reviews, loan-level due diligence results and the quality of representations and warranties to a transaction are key elements of its analytical process.

    Each of these factors accounts for key risks that are not always apparent in the .......

    News Round-up 1 July 2011

  • AIB auction results in

    The final prices for the Allied Irish Banks CDS senior and subordinated auctions, held yesterday, were determined to be 70.125 and 10.375 respectively. 14 dealers submitted inside markets, physical settlement requests and limit orders to the auction administered by Creditex and Markit to settle trades across the market. The Allied Irish Banks deliverable obligations are denominated in euros, Swiss francs, .......

    News Round-up 1 July 2011

  • Structured credit pro joins advisory

    Steven Hilfer has joined Navigant Economics as a senior advisor in the New York office. The firm says that as inquiries and disputes involving complex financial instruments continue to evolve, Hilfer offers Navigant clients specialised expertise in the sell-side perspective of the securitisation business with a particular focus on MBS, CLO/CDOs and ABS.

    Hilfer had a 20‐year career at Credit .......

    Job Swaps 1 July 2011

  • European CMBS loan defaults to rise

    Six more CMBS loans breached payment or other obligations in May, according to S&P's June European CMBS monthly bulletin. Servicers also reported that that they transferred eight more loans to special servicing in the same period and another five loans in June.

    "Twenty-five loans are scheduled to mature in July and, based on recent performance, we anticipate that the tally .......

    News Round-up 1 July 2011

  • Documentation issues

    Voluntary debt exchanges scrutinised

    Greek CDS contracts appear unlikely to be triggered under current proposals for a Greek debt restructuring. Indeed, a proposal from a consortium of French banks put forward earlier this week specifically underlines the necessity of preventing a credit event on Greek CDS. However, events in Athens over the past few months have put the spotlight on credit event definitions and .......

    News Analysis 1 July 2011

  • 'End-to-end' CDS index trade executed

    Goldman Sachs and BlackRock have completed a CDX investment grade index trade that was executed electronically and centrally cleared. The firms say this CDS trade is significant in that it demonstrates end-to-end integration across swap execution, affirmation and clearing.

    The transaction was executed via the Tradeweb platform and centrally cleared through CME Group, with Goldman Sachs as the clearing agent. .......

    News Round-up 30 June 2011

  • Tobacco settlement bond closed

    Grant Thornton's public finance practice has been selected by the Tobacco Settlement Financing Corp of the State of New York (TSFC) to serve as the structuring and refunding verification agent on its US$959.1m bond offering that will be used to refinance existing debt. The firm says it was selected by the TSFC for its specialised expertise in serving as the .......

    News Round-up 30 June 2011

  • RMBS sales manager added

    Tejas Securities Group has appointed Samir Shah as md and co-sales manager of structured products. The addition reinforces the firm's sales and trading activity in mortgage-related structured products.

    Shah will be product manager for higher-grade RMBS and joins John Randolph - who leads efforts in ABS, distressed RMBS and other structured products - and Tim Martin, who specialises in subordinate .......

    Job Swaps 30 June 2011

  • Forming consensus

    GRAND restructuring process underway

    Two conference calls held last week kick-started the restructuring process for GRAND - at €5.8bn (now amortised to €4.8bn), the largest-ever European CMBS issued. The deal is also one of the most actively traded European CMBS and, as such, the sponsor's proactive approach ahead of loan maturity is seen as particularly positive.

    The two conference calls - on 21 and .......

    News Analysis 30 June 2011

  • Law firm gains Washington presence

    Allen & Overy has established a new office in Washington, DC, with the addition of three new partners to bolster its US regulatory practice, to help clients meet the challenges of a radically altered regulatory landscape in the country. The firm plans to steadily grow the office in strategic areas, including derivatives.

    The three new partners - Barbara Stettner, Chris .......

    Job Swaps 30 June 2011

  • Swap business conduct rules proposed

    The US SEC is to propose rules that would impose certain business conduct standards upon security-based swap dealers and major security-based swap participants when those parties engage in security-based swap transactions. The move is the latest step in the implementation of Title VII of the Dodd-Frank Act.

    "The rules we are proposing would level the playing field in the security-based .......

    News Round-up 30 June 2011

  • Raymond James settles ARS charges

    The US SEC has charged Raymond James & Associates and Raymond James Financial Services for making inaccurate statements when selling auction rate securities (ARS) to customers. Raymond James agreed to settle the SEC's charges and provide its customers the opportunity to sell back to the firm any ARS that they bought prior to the collapse of the ARS market in .......

    Job Swaps 30 June 2011

  • Distressed MBS fund launched

    UCM Partners has launched the UCM MIDAS Fund, with US$10m in assets under management. The fund is designed to capitalise on relative value opportunities in the RMBS and other securitised debt markets, including CMBS and ABS. Its target return is currently 25%-35%.

    The fund is managed by UCM Partners cio Jay Menozzi and portfolio managers Boris Peresechensky and Vesta Marks. .......

    News Round-up 30 June 2011

  • CRE CDO manager swaps

    C-III Asset Management is set to transfer collateral management responsibilities for the Nomura CRE CDO 2007-2 and AMAC CDO Funding I transactions to C-III Investment Management. Both firms are subsidiaries of C-III Capital Partners, and the key employees and technology infrastructure are expected to remain in place.

    C-III Capital Partners currently employs 270 professionals and manages approximately US$2bn of invested .......

    Job Swaps 30 June 2011

  • Countrywide servicing settlement reached

    22 institutional investors represented by Gibbs & Bruns have announced a settlement with Bank of America and Countrywide regarding repurchase and mortgage servicing claims on 530 Countrywide-issued RMBS, for which BNY Mellon serves as the trustee. The settlement, which is subject to court approval, involves Bank of America and/or Countrywide paying US$8.5bn to settle the claims owned by these trusts.

    Job Swaps 29 June 2011

  • Counterparty criteria updated

    S&P has updated its criteria for counterparty and supporting obligations by providing a framework for classifying currencies and determining the volatility buffers for derivative obligations. The updated criteria apply to all new and existing structured finance securities, certain US public finance securities and to financial counterparties in corporate and government issues possessing structured finance characteristics.

    The criteria provide a framework .......

    News Round-up 29 June 2011

  • Revised fails charge recommendations issued

    The US Treasury Market Practices Group (TMPG) has published revised fails charge recommendations for the agency debt and agency MBS markets based on feedback it received on its 29 April proposal for fails charge recommendations (SCI passim). For the agency MBS market, the recommended trading practice has been modified slightly from the earlier proposal.

    The revised recommendation consists of a .......

    News Round-up 29 June 2011

  • ABS-focused fund launched

    Angel Oak Capital Advisors has launched the Angel Oak Multi Strategy Income Fund, which seeks to achieve high current income while providing less interest rate sensitivity than traditional fixed income products. The fund is managed by an Angel Oak team headed by portfolio managers Brad Friedlander and Ashish Negandhi.

    "Our strategy initially is to focus on the asset-backed securities market. .......

    News Round-up 29 June 2011
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