Complete news archive

  • HARP extension 'slight negative' for IOS

    The Federal Housing Finance Agency is to extend the Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP) to 30 June 2012. MBS analysts at Barclays Capital believe that the move should have a minor impact on TBA valuations but could be a slight negative for some IOS contracts.

    HARP was set to expire on 30 June of this year. In addition to the .......

    News 14 March 2011

  • New cio recruited

    Paul Isherwood has joined The Chotin Group as cio. He is responsible for overseeing the analysis, trading and management of the firm's investment portfolios.

    Isherwood has more than 15 years of experience creating, managing and investing in structured finance products, primarily backed by residential mortgage assets. Prior to joining Chotin, he was ceo and fund manager of Winston Capital, a .......

    Job Swaps 14 March 2011

  • Hedge fund beefs up in sales

    PVE Capital has appointed Stevan Simic as risk manager and Ronald Neumunz as head of sales and investor relations.

    Prior to joining PVE Capital, Simic worked in a similar capacity at Concordia Advisors. Prior to this, he was at Deutsche Bank in the risk controlling group, where he focused on market risk for the global credit derivatives desk.

    Neumunz also .......

    Job Swaps 14 March 2011

  • New twist for MBIA policyholder case

    Citing newly disclosed evidence, four former Superintendents of the New York State Insurance Department (NYID) submitted sworn testimony on Friday that the NYID impermissibly allowed MBIA Inc to strip US$5bn from its main insurance subsidiary in a way that enriched MBIA Inc's senior executives and shareholders at the expense of policyholders. The move is the latest twist in the ABN .......

    News 14 March 2011

  • RMBS repurchase offer made

    The US Federal Reserve has received a formal offer from AIG to purchase the assets in Maiden Lane II, which mainly comprise RMBS. The Fed says it has been aware of AIG's interest in these assets for some time. Any decision on a possible disposition of the assets will be made in a way that maximises the proceeds to the .......

    News Round-up 14 March 2011

  • Property derivatives platform launched

    LaSalle Investment Management has partnered with BGC Partners to establish a property derivatives capability for clients. The offering will allow LaSalle's clients to access a range of property derivative products, while fund managers can actively manage portfolio sector weightings, asset allocation and hedge market downside risks.

    The announcement comes as interest in property derivatives continues to grow, despite a fall .......

    News Round-up 14 March 2011

  • Sovereign restructuring credit event mulled

    ISDA's EMEA Determinations Committee is mulling whether a restructuring credit event has occurred with respect to the Republic of Ireland. The move follows the country's first drawdown (of €5.8bn) on 18 January of the IMF loan and the IMF's claim to preferential creditor status with regards to the loan.

     

    .......

    News Round-up 14 March 2011

  • EM fund adds partner

    BTG Pactual has appointed Ben Rick as partner in its global emerging market and macro fund. Rick, who will add European credit trading capabilities to the fund, will be based in London and report to managing partner Antoine Estier.

    Rick previously ran Bank of America Merrill Lynch's proprietary credit trading group until the desk closed in December 2010. Prior to .......

    Job Swaps 11 March 2011

  • CMBS risk indicators outlined

    The current credit risk level for this year's new issue CMBS is at a low level, although recent underwriting and macroeconomic trends may shift risk higher as the year progresses, according to S&P.

    "To help us gain a sense of what the prospects might be for 2011 CMBS originations, we analysed correlations between a set of macroeconomic and underwriting variables .......

    News Round-up 11 March 2011

  • Mixed results for credit card ABS

    Although collateral performance was somewhat mixed this month, US consumer credit quality maintained course after extending year-long plus improvements, according to Fitch's latest Credit Card ABS Index results. Credit card defaults and delinquencies fell again, while yield, monthly payment rate (MPR) and excess spread dipped during the January collection period.

    "Charge-offs are now at a two-year low, while delinquencies have .......

    News Round-up 11 March 2011

  • Due diligence concerns revealed

    Following on from its 2010 structured finance survey, Principia Partners approached participants at the recent American Securitisation Forum (ASF) conference to conduct a second survey. Based on the responses of 150 attendees, the exercise identified the most important aspects of investor due diligence, as well as how well investors believed their organisations were equipped to analyse ABS and MBS investments.

    News Round-up 11 March 2011

  • CRE CDO delinquencies climb further

    The monthly climb in delinquencies continues for US CREL CDOs, with delinquencies rising to 14.6% in February from 14% in January, according to Fitch's latest index results. Construction and land loans continue to encompass the most late-pays by property type, though their collateral composition in current transactions is far smaller than other larger property types.

    "Though office loans make up .......

    News Round-up 11 March 2011

  • Mezz appeal for Euro RMBS

    The quiet patch for European RMBS continues, particularly in the primary market. However, mezzanine paper is running with demand in the secondary market, as investor appetite remains firm.

    "It's all been relatively quiet in the primary market, aside from the Claris RMBS 2011 deal, which priced this week," one RMBS trader says. The 2.99-year A2 tranche of the Italian RMBS, .......

    Market Reports 11 March 2011

  • Buy-side marketing head named

    TradingScreen has appointed Charles Garcia as head of global marketing for traditional asset managers. Based in New York, he will lead the firm's expansion into the global asset management community.

    With more than 25 years of experience in the financial services and sales industry, Garcia was most recently head of North American sales at Sophis. Previously, he was director of .......

    Job Swaps 11 March 2011

  • Plateau for subprime CDS prices?

    Although US subprime CDS prices rose for a fourth straight month, the rate of increase has slowed, indicating a near-term plateau, according to Fitch Solutions. The index increased by just 90bp to reach a level of 11.46 through the end of February, following average monthly increases of 5% over the previous three months.

    Not surprisingly, riskier recent vintages weighed down .......

    News Round-up 11 March 2011

  • Canadian ABS momentum to continue

    Moody's reports a stable outlook for all sectors of ABS issued in Canada and a positive outlook for the auto sector. The agency detects no stress in the RMBS and credit card backed sectors, despite record high levels of debt among Canadian consumers.

    "Performance in the two sectors has been stable. Residential mortgage arrears remain low, supported by a stable .......

    News Round-up 11 March 2011

  • Greek ratings review underway

    Following a recent series of downgrades, Moody's does not expect Greek structured finance transactions to retain or achieve an A3 rating or higher. The agency downgraded Greece's government bond ratings to B1 and several Greek banks to Ba3 or lower this month.

    Regardless of the structural features or the amount of credit enhancement in place, SF transactions are not immune .......

    News Round-up 11 March 2011

  • Irish RMBS ratings cap enforced

    Moody's has downgraded the ratings of 50 tranches in 17 prime Irish RMBS transactions, while maintaining the ratings on 16 tranches on review for possible downgrade. These actions are due to the weak and rapidly deteriorating performance of the collateral, the weakened macro-economic environment and the increased operational risks linked to the weaker credit quality of Irish banks acting as .......

    News Round-up 11 March 2011

  • SEF-like CDS trades completed

    MarketAxess Holdings has completed multiple CDS trades between JPMorgan and six investor clients over its execution trading platform. In a preview of how SEFs are expected to function once the rules and registration are complete, the trades were undertaken with JPMorgan acting as counterparty and clearer.

    While some trades were cleared, others were intermediated or remained bilateral - reflecting the .......

    News Round-up 11 March 2011

  • Market vets head new debt platform

    Berenson & Company has appointed Christopher Johnson and Jack Lucid as vice chairman and md respectively. The pair will lead the firm's new debt capital markets platform.

    With more than 26 years of investment banking experience, Johnson was most recently head of the restructuring advisory group for the Americas at Deutsche Bank Securities. Prior to joining Berenson, Lucid was ceo and .......

    Job Swaps 11 March 2011

  • Opening arguments

    Volume of RMBS litigation set to increase

    RMBS litigation is expected to gather steam this year: more new cases are set to be filed, while further decisions on preliminary motions are due. At the same time, courts will start adjudicating discovery disputes and motions for summary judgment.

    Individual plaintiffs filed several new cases at the end of last year and the beginning of this one. Law firm .......

    News Analysis 11 March 2011
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