Complete news archive

  • Full-year securitisation league tables released

    SCI has released its latest league tables for bank arrangers in the European and US structured credit and ABS markets. The figures show that in December JP Morgan in Europe and Barclays Capital in the US held on to their top spots. The leaders participated in over €28bn and US$77bn worth of qualifying deals throughout 2010.

    The tables are intended .......

    News Round-up 24 January 2011

  • CMBS counsel recruited

    Winston & Strawn has appointed Christine Spletzer as of counsel in its real estate practice in New York. With over 20 years of experience, Spletzer has focused on CMBS, representing issuers, underwriters and loan sellers. She joins Winston from Duval & Stachenfeld, where she was partner and co-chair of its structured finance strategies practice group.

    .......

    Job Swaps 24 January 2011

  • Canadian mortgage rules reviewed

    S&P is reviewing the Canadian government's revised rules for Canadian mortgages and home equity lines of credit (HELOCs) to determine their potential impact on the transactions that the agency has rated. The Canadian government last week announced three major changes to rules for government-backed insured mortgages that are expected to go into effect over the next few months.

    First, the .......

    News Round-up 24 January 2011

  • Canadian ABCP fund launched

    GMP Investment Management (GMPIM) has launched its Canadian ABCP Fund, which will invest in the securities from the Master Asset Vehicles that were created from the restructuring of the non-bank sponsored Canadian ABCP market in 2008 (SCI passim).

    "The objective of the ABCP Fund is to capitalise on the attractive risk/return potential of this unique, diversified, deep-value investment opportunity," says .......

    Job Swaps 24 January 2011

  • 70% of maturing CMBS loans to pass refi test

    Fitch reports that approximately 2000 US commercial mortgage loans are due to mature over the next 12 months, representing an outstanding balance of US$22.5bn. The maturities are expected as follows: US$4.5bn in 1Q11 (with hotel properties accounting for 29% of the total); US$4.9bn in 2Q11 (39% retail properties); US$6.1bn in 3Q11 (39% retail properties); and US$6.8bn in 4Q11 (28% office .......

    News Round-up 24 January 2011

  • US CMBS loan mods quickening

    Although US special servicers are working out underperforming commercial mortgage loans at an increasingly faster rate, they remain mired in an uphill battle heading into 2011, Fitch says.

    Loans transferring out of special servicing reached a record US$27.9bn during 3Q10 - more than in the last four years combined. Additionally, the rate of loans entering special servicing fell for the .......

    News Round-up 24 January 2011

  • Aussie ABCP ratings cut

    The programme documents for Deutsche Bank's Australian ABCP programmes - Cutlass Securitisation, Scimitar Securitisation, Spear Securitisation and Sword Securitisation - have been amended to lower the minimum short-term rating for supporting counterparties to A-1. The amendments follow the update to S&P's criteria for assessing counterparty risk and result in the ratings of the programmes being lowered to A-1 from A-1+.

    News Round-up 24 January 2011

  • Rating agency role in Euro ABS discussed

    The role of rating agencies in the European structured finance market has changed, according to panellists at a Fitch-hosted conference in London last Friday (21 January). The conference also focused on the outlook for the sector during the year ahead.

    Will Davies, svp at PIMCO Europe and a panellist at the conference, commented on how recent counterparty criteria issues are .......

    Talking Point 24 January 2011

  • Bright outlook for credit card ABS

    It has been a good week for US credit card ABS, with two new deals pricing today. Further, the current outlook for both primary and secondary markets suggests a continuing improvement, with strong fundamentals underpinning spread levels.

    "We've seen a continued improvement in credit card ABS, which has marked its effect on buying behaviour," one ABS analyst says. "Fortunately - .......

    Market Reports 21 January 2011

  • One foot forward

    MBIA litigation presses ahead

    The banks involved in the fraudulent conveyance case against MBIA Insurance yesterday filed their Notice of Appeal of the First Department of the New York State Supreme Court Appellate Division's recent ruling (see SCI 19 January). In addition, they requested that the Court of Appeals grant an expedited briefing and argument schedule, thereby bringing some clarity around the timing of .......

    News Analysis 21 January 2011

  • Euro ABS has a good week-end

    With the S&P counterparty criteria announcement out of the way on Tuesday, the rest of the week has been positive for the European ABS market. A strong UK RMBS sector has fed into other asset classes, boosting investor appetite across the board.

    "The biggest event of the week has been the S&P ratings announcement; this is the key thing that .......

    Market Reports 21 January 2011

  • Slower prepays expected for 09/10 Freddie pools

    Freddie Mac has announced that it will no longer purchase Freddie Mac-owned streamlined refinance mortgages from 1 May 2011. MBS analysts at Bank of America Merrill Lynch suggest that elimination of this programme will result in slower prepayment speeds and a longer refinancing lag for 2009/2010 Freddie pools. It could also drive convergence between Fannie and Freddie 2009/2010 speeds.

    This .......

    News 21 January 2011

  • Aussie stability anticipated

    Fitch says the Australian structured finance market performed well through 2010 and expects that trend to continue this year. A new report anticipates that ABS and RMBS ratings will be stable in 2011, while CMBS ratings may face pressure due to refinancing risk.

    As of end-2010, 84% of Fitch-rated Australian structured finance tranches had stable outlooks, up from 78% at .......

    News Round-up 21 January 2011

  • Structured credit head named

    Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation has appointed Robert Carney as head of structured credit and securitisation. He is responsible for the bank's purchase of structured credit investments, negotiation and execution of credit hedging, new product development and the execution of asset-back funding.

    Carney was previously an executive director with Wye Tree Asset Management. Prior to this, he worked at the monoline .......

    Job Swaps 21 January 2011

  • Mixed performance for Euro SF CDOs

    Fitch has downgraded 40 tranches and affirmed 140 tranches from 33 European SF CDOs. In addition, the agency has revised the outlooks from negative to stable for 15 of the affirmed tranches.

    European SF CDO performance has been in line with expectations since the agency's last review of the sector in 2009, while the majority of the tranches have been .......

    News Round-up 21 January 2011

  • Concerns raised over 'expert' liability

    The US SEC has voted to adopt two new sets of rules designed to revitalise the ABS market by encouraging better investor disclosure. However, SIFMA has already spoken out about a flaw it sees in the decision.

    The first set of rules requires issuers to disclose the history of the requests they received and repurchases they made related to their .......

    News Round-up 21 January 2011

  • Sponsors adapt to new criteria

    S&P reports that sponsors' action plans have helped mitigate the impact of its revised counterparty criteria. The agency confirms that the number of transactions affected by the changing criteria is lower than previously estimated as transaction sponsors have actively sought to allay the alterations' effects.

    A transition date of 18 July has been set for the changes, but S&P will .......

    News Round-up 21 January 2011

  • Broker adds trading team

    Sterne Agee & Leach has appointed Barry Dennis as head of its structured products trading team. The firm has also hired Adam Robison, Bill Fedyna and Joseph Gambino, all of whom are based in New York.

    Dennis was previously co-head of structured products at Chapdelaine's credit unit. Robison and Fedyna were also previously at Chapdelaine, while Gambino worked at Stifel .......

    Job Swaps 20 January 2011

  • Goldman restructures ABS group

    Goldman Sachs has restructured its US ABS banking group, leaving Mike Millette as the sole head of structured finance. Kevin Gasvoda has taken on a different role in the bank's mortgage division.

    Under the restructuring, certain underwriting and origination activities related to MBS and ABS - which were previously housed in the bank's securities division - are being moved to .......

    Job Swaps 20 January 2011

  • Euro CMBS targeted in criteria roll-out

    European securitisation analysts at Barclays Capital estimate that approximately 1,400-1,500 tranches will ultimately be downgraded following the roll-out of S&P's updated counterparty criteria. Negative rating actions are expected to be more prevalent in European transactions because swaps are more common in European securitisations and the amended swap criteria will likely have the biggest impact.

    In terms of the negative watch .......

    News 20 January 2011

  • Noteholders reiterate support for REC proposal

    A notice has been issued on behalf of a group of REC Plantation Place CMBS noteholders and junior lenders reiterating their support for the owner's recent proposal to sell Plantation Place on a consensual basis. The notice also states the group's intention to oppose any alternative proposal that may lead to an enforced sale of the underlying loan or property.

    News Round-up 20 January 2011

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