Complete news archive

  • Call for risk retention rethink

    SIFMA has followed the American Securitization Forum in calling for a new round of proposed rules on risk retention (SCI 8 June). It says that the lack of clarity on certain basic concepts, such as the meaning of 'par value' and 'ABS interest', make it difficult for market participants to fully understand the impact of the proposed rules.

    Because this .......

    News Round-up 13 June 2011

  • SBS requirements to be clarified

    The US SEC is set to clarify the requirements that will apply to security-based swap (SBS) transactions as of 16 July - the effective date of Title VII of the Dodd-Frank Act - and provide appropriate temporary relief. Specifically, the Commission will provide guidance on which provisions of Subtitle B of Title VII will become operable as of 16 July, .......

    News Round-up 13 June 2011

  • Servicer op risk ratings hit

    Fitch has downgraded the operational risk ratings of nine US residential mortgage servicers, following its November 2010 assignment of a negative outlook to the sector. Reasons for the rating actions include the growing burden of managing delinquent and defaulted mortgages in an environment of heightened regulatory scrutiny. Also factored into the downgrades were the increased areas of risk identified by .......

    News Round-up 13 June 2011

  • Advisory strengthens Nordic coverage

    StormHarbour has strengthened its client coverage in the Nordic region with the appointment of two new senior investment banking professionals in its recently launched Copenhagen branch. Torben Lykke Hansen and Ole Witmeur, former partners of Nordic securities firm AGL in Copenhagen, will join StormHarbour as directors. The pair will report to Jacoob Nielsen, md and head of the Copenhagen branch, .......

    Job Swaps 13 June 2011

  • Pro forma warning

    The pro forma underwriting of commercial real estate loans is not currently a widespread practice among originators of loans used in US CMBS, according to a new Moody's report. However, the rating agency expresses concerns as to how underwriting practices may evolve as the cycle advances.

    "At present, Moody's sees only limited amounts of pro forma underwriting taking place," says Moody"s director .......

    News Round-up 13 June 2011

  • Valuation partnership extended

    SIX Telekurs has extended its partnership with FINCAD, allowing FINCAD's customers to access SIX Telekurs' database of global securities prices through its online derivatives valuation service, Fair Value Insight and Market Data. At the same time, SIX Telekurs has formalised and extended its use of FINCAD analytics in its evaluated pricing service.

     

    .......

    Job Swaps 10 June 2011

  • CMBS delinquencies in 'holding pattern'

    Delinquencies for US CMBS remained largely in a holding pattern for the third consecutive month, according to Fitch's latest delinquency index results. Late-pays increased by 6bp to end the month at 8.81%. The small net delinquency rate that increased in each of the last three months came in stark contrast to those logged over the previous two years, with the .......

    News Round-up 10 June 2011

  • CMBS balloon payments fall again

    The percentage of US CMBS loans paying off on their balloon date fell for the second straight month, according to Trepp's May pay-off report. While April's reading shows a sharp fall off, the percentage of loans paying off in April was well above the 12-month rolling average. While the rate fell once more in May, the latest reading was below .......

    News Round-up 10 June 2011

  • Card delinquencies dip again

    Despite mixed collateral performance for credit card ABS, improving US consumer credit quality continues to gain momentum, according to Fitch's latest credit card performance indices.

    Credit card defaults and delinquencies fell again while yield and monthly payment rate (MPR) dipped during the April collection period. Three-month average excess spread improved at the same time, the agency says.

    "Charge-offs are diverging .......

    News Round-up 10 June 2011

  • Further downgrades for Greek ABS

    Moody's has downgraded 10 tranches of five ABS transactions, 14 tranches of eight RMBS transactions and confirmed the ratings of two ABS and seven tranches of five RMBS transactions that are backed by Greek assets and serviced by Greek entities.

    Additionally, the agency downgraded the senior note ratings of two Greek ABS transactions - serviced by Cypriot entities - to .......

    News Round-up 10 June 2011

  • Morningstar expanding remit

    Morningstar has rebranded Realpoint - which it acquired in May 2010 - under the Morningstar name. In March 2011, Morningstar expanded its ratings services to include an operational risk assessment practice, focused on evaluating commercial and residential mortgage servicing firms, loan originators, and service providers to these businesses. The firm is now expanding its services to include a comprehensive ratings .......

    Job Swaps 10 June 2011

  • RMBS master trust restructurings proposed

    Lloyds Banking Group is proposing to restructure the Arkle, Mound, Pendeford and Permanent (both Funding 1 and Funding 2) RMBS master trusts, subject to noteholder approval. This is expected to occur during July.

    Under the restructuring, the support provided by the reserve funds in all four trusts will be replaced with a subordinated class Z loan. For the Arkle and .......

    News Round-up 10 June 2011

  • ML2 results prompt strategy switch

    The results from Monday's Maiden Lane II BWIC have been released, indicating that 36 of the 73 assets out for bid traded - for the second consecutive time. Of the approximately US$2.55bn in non-agency RMBS on the list, 57% (US$1.47bn) traded, while only 34% of the US$1.25bn subprime RMBS on the list traded.

    Overall, the majority of bonds that cleared .......

    News 10 June 2011

  • Euro SME CLOs stabilising

    European SME CLO transaction performance is continuing to stabilise or improve across all jurisdictions, according to Fitch.

    Default rates for Spanish transactions have stabilised at 1.2% after a rise in impairments over the past two years. Elevated loan prepayment rates have also returned to their pre-2009 levels, which is attributed to originating banks restructuring non-performing loans, the agency says. Despite .......

    News Round-up 10 June 2011

  • Rating the ratings

    Blaise Ganguin, chief credit officer at S&P, looks a...

    Amid all the discussion about the role of credit ratings in financial markets, their actual performance has often been misunderstood. Ratings are forward-looking opinions of relative creditworthiness, so their performance can be measured by how well correlated they are over time with defaults and by the rate at which they change.

    The key test is whether ratings have, generally speaking, .......

    Talking Point 10 June 2011

  • Call for transparency around Spanish foreclosures

    Fitch believes that the relatively small number of repossessed properties and the low level of modified loans within its rated universe of 137 Spanish RMBS is due to originator support.

    "Fitch notes that there is a significant difference in the total number of repossessed properties across transactions which share similarities in terms of seasoning and performance, depending on the fund .......

    News Round-up 10 June 2011

  • Bishopsgate property sale secured

    Hatfield Philips International has secured the sale of 6-8 Bishopsgate for £95m to Mitsubishi Estate Company - one of Japan's largest property development and investment companies. Located in London, the 20-storey landmark tower comprises 146,879 square-feet of office space, which is let in its entirety to Deutsche Bank on two leases expiring in 2015.

    Despite suffering from a payment default, .......

    News Round-up 9 June 2011

  • Price uplift seen in Celtic tender

    Ulster Bank Ireland is to accept about €1.1bn of notes from its Celtic 9, 10, 11 and 12 Irish RMBS transactions, following the tender offer it announced last month (SCI 24 May). The final purchase prices for many of the bonds were significantly higher than the minimum purchase prices announced in the offer memo, by an average of 5.7 points .......

    News Round-up 9 June 2011

  • Subprime price increase doubles

    US subprime CDS prices have more than doubled their increase from last month, extending the rally to an unprecedented seventh straight month, according to the latest index results from Fitch Solutions.

    Subprime CDS prices rose by 1.7% overall, though price increases were not uniform across vintages. The headline index price increase was delivered by the 2007 vintage's 4.9% gain and .......

    News Round-up 9 June 2011

  • Call for clarification of Indian CDS guidelines

    Fitch says that the CDS guidelines issued by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) have introduced a much needed credit risk management tool for India's debt investors (SCI 24 May). Currently, the unavailability of a financial guarantee for debentures severely limits the options available to debt investors, the agency says.

    However, further clarification may be expected from RBI, particularly with .......

    News Round-up 9 June 2011

  • SF advisory team hired

    Lazard has recruited a structured credit advisory team to broaden its capital structure advisory business.

    Led in Europe by md Alan Patterson, the team brings a broad range of complementary skills in structured credit products and credit derivatives, including capital and balance sheet analytics, structuring, syndication, placement, valuation and portfolio management. It is based in London and will advise a .......

    Job Swaps 9 June 2011
×