Complete news archive

  • Minimal impact from Silver Maple asset release

    Moody's says that the release of Hougang Plaza from the security of Silver Maple Investment Corporation will not result in a reduction or withdrawal of the ratings assigned to the series 25 and 30 notes. The affected Singapore CMBS notes are the Aa1 rated US$255.5m series 025 and €175m series 030, which are due to mature in April 2014.

    Silver .......

    News Round-up 18 January 2011

  • Counterparty risk rating actions begin

    S&P has begun implementing its new criteria for assessing counterparty and supporting obligations in structured finance transactions, placing or keeping on credit watch negative the ratings on 108 classes of notes in 73 Asia-Pacific deals and 13 classes in eight Japanese deals. The agency is expected to make separate announcements in connection with US and EMEA transactions imminently.

    Of the .......

    News Round-up 18 January 2011

  • Stable to negative outlook for UK WBS

    Fitch's outlook for UK pub and healthcare whole business securitisations (WBS) is stable to negative for 2011.

    Stefan Baatz, Fitch's director in global infrastructure, says: "The stable to negative outlook is driven by several factors. First, a sluggish recovery of the UK economy and a consequently weak labour market, coupled with rising commodity prices and the VAT hike will have .......

    News Round-up 17 January 2011

  • Agency angst

    Questions remain, despite good start to the year

    The New Year has seen agency MBS liquidity improve and spreads tighten, but 2011 is not expected to be entirely smooth sailing for the sector. Serious concerns persist about the US government's role in the market, with GSE reform continuing to be a contentious issue.

    With the private label sector yet to pick up, agency MBS is dominating the marketplace. .......

    News Analysis 17 January 2011

  • Government affairs md named

    SIFMA has appointed Bradley Edgell as md in its federal government affairs group. Based in Washington, Edgell will be responsible for federal government relations, reporting to Kenneth Bentsen, SIFMA's evp of public policy and advocacy.

    Edgell joins the firm from The Options Clearing Corporation (OCC), where she served as director of government relations. Prior to this, she had extensive experience .......

    Job Swaps 17 January 2011

  • FFELP ABS targeted for operational risk

    Moody's reports that some US student loan ABS may be subject to downgrade if they do not meet the agency's proposed guidelines on operational risk. Certain characteristics of student loan ABS, particularly in FFELP-backed securities, mitigate operational risks compared to other ABS, the agency says.

    "The roles and responsibilities of some key transaction parties - including master servicers, primary servicers .......

    News Round-up 17 January 2011

  • Increased compensation to reduce set-off risk

    Moody's says that the new EU deposit compensation legislation will affect its assessment of set-off risk for certain European SF transactions.

    The required deposit compensation limit for each EU member state has increased from €50,000 to €100,000 per depositor, in line with the latest amendments to the Deposit Guarantee Schemes Directive (DGSD). This increase is expected to reduce exposure to .......

    News Round-up 17 January 2011

  • SIV debt downgraded

    Moody's has downgraded Nightingale Finance's Euro and US CP and MTN programmes, affecting US$488m of debt securities. The rating actions are due to the downgrade of AIG Financial Products Corp, which sponsors the SIV, on 12 January. The long-term rating of AIG FP was downgraded to Baa1 from A3 and the short-term rating to P-2 from P-1, on review for .......

    News Round-up 17 January 2011

  • Swap verification rule proposed

    The US SEC has voted to propose a rule governing the way in which certain security-based swap transactions are acknowledged and verified by parties who enter into them. The new rule - Rule 15Fi-1 - is being proposed under Title VII of the Dodd-Frank Act as another step in the SEC's effort to increase the transparency of the security-based swap .......

    News Round-up 17 January 2011

  • AIG 'stabilised'

    The New York Fed has announced the termination of its assistance to AIG and the full repayment of its loans to the firm, representing a substantial step toward achieving the Fed's dual goals of stabilising AIG and ensuring its repayment of government assistance. In addition, the Fed has been paid in full for its preferred interests in the AIA and .......

    Job Swaps 17 January 2011

  • Ex-Fed vet bolsters advisory practice

    Jim Embersit has joined Ernst & Young as executive director in its advisory practice.

    Hank Prybylski, the firm's financial services advisory leader, says: "His extensive regulatory experience will be invaluable for our clients as they adjust to the myriad of recent changes, including Dodd-Frank and Basel 3."

    Embersit has over 25 years of bank supervisory experience, including 20 years spent .......

    Job Swaps 17 January 2011

  • CREL CDO delinquencies climb again

    US CREL CDO delinquencies closed out last year at over 13%, according to Fitch. Delinquencies rose in December to 13.6% from 12.7% in November - primarily due to an increase in credit risk securities, including defaulted REIT debt and credit-impaired CMBS.

    "The current rise in the delinquency rate is not expected to impact Fitch's ratings, as its analysis of each .......

    News Round-up 17 January 2011

  • CMBS conduit lender formed

    Cohen & Company has formed a new venture with FundCore Finance Group to create a CRE conduit lender. The venture will offer borrowers extensive capital markets experience combined with superior loan origination, underwriting, execution and risk management capabilities, the firms say. The primary focus will be writing 5- to 10-year CRE fixed rate loans ranging in size from US$5m to .......

    Job Swaps 17 January 2011

  • GSC CDO sale halted

    GSC has terminated its agreement to sell the collateral management contracts for the GSC EUROPEAN CDO II, CDO I-R and CDO V transactions to Black Diamond (see SCI 1 November) after an ad hoc group of minority lenders of GSC filed a motion for the appointment of a chapter 11 trustee in December. The Bankruptcy Court conducted an evidentiary hearing .......

    Job Swaps 17 January 2011

  • US CMBS rallies as bid-lists boom

    The US CMBS market saw a frenzy of bid-list activity last week, with traders reporting a dramatic increase in supply. At the same time, a fast-moving rally in the lower parts of the capital structure is boosting pricing levels even further.

    "We've seen a continuation in the way of bid-lists and a huge rally in the belly of the curve," .......

    Market Reports 17 January 2011

  • 'Too much, too soon' for Euro CLOs?

    It has been another positive week for the European CLO market as spreads continue to tighten across the capital structure and prices remain firm. However, the high volume of fast-paced activity is generating some concern that the market is getting ahead of itself.

    "It's been a good week: there's been an overall tightening and prices have been firm to supportive .......

    Market Reports 14 January 2011

  • Resets to bring tiering opportunities

    The non-agency MBS market faces US$246bn of payment resets over the next three years. Although this risk is expected to be manageable, differences in payment shocks could result in tiering opportunities, according to MBS analysts at Barclays Capital.

    "We prefer MTA option ARMs to hybrid option ARMs because they face smaller payment shocks and have amortised down to a relatively .......

    News 14 January 2011

  • Still searching

    EM securitisation challenges investors, but opportunities can still be found

    The once-predicted boom in emerging market securitisation may have slipped back over the horizon. But, as discussed in an extensive new SCI Special Report, opportunities remain for investors if they know where and how to look. The full report can be downloaded at the bottom of this page.

    Indeed, emerging markets would seem a logical space for structured credit and .......

    News Analysis 14 January 2011

  • Sharp rise predicted for CMBX losses

    A number of market participants released CMBX loss estimates in 4Q10, with the baseline estimates across the reports appearing to be remarkably consistent. S&P suggests in its latest Structured Finance Research Week publication that this reflects similar underlying assumptions about the future of the commercial property market.

    S&P's baseline loss forecast for each of the five CMBX series is higher .......

    News 14 January 2011

  • CLOs given a range of performance outlooks

    Moody's 2011 performance outlook for US CLOs is positive, while European balance sheet CLOs and Japanese SME CLOs remain stable. Additionally, the performance outlooks for European SME ABS and SME CLOs have stable to negative outlooks.

    The agency notes that the global economic prospects generally brightened in 2010 following an unprecedented global contraction of 0.9% in 2009. With this uptick, .......

    News Round-up 14 January 2011

  • MBIA litigation uncertainty persists

    The Appellate Division of the New York State Supreme Court on Tuesday reversed an earlier decision by a lower court and granted MBIA's motion to dismiss the plenary lawsuit brought by a group of banks challenging its restructuring (SCI passim), but ruled that a separate court action by the plaintiffs - called an Article 78 proceeding - could proceed. Uncertainty .......

    News 13 January 2011
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