Complete news archive

  • Mortgage servicing council formed

    The US Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) has assembled a task force of MBA members to examine and issue recommendations for the future of residential mortgage servicing. Dubbed the Council on Residential Mortgage Servicing for the 21st Century, the task force will be led by Debra Still, MBA vice chairman and president and ceo of Pulte Mortgage.

    Berman says: "The residential mortgage .......

    News Round-up 13 December 2010

  • Enhanced Alpha fund launched

    AllianceBernstein has launched Enhanced Alpha Portfolio, a UCITS fund for institutional clients. The fund - a Luxembourg-domiciled UCITS, with a minimum investment of £1.5m - employs a relative value fixed income strategy with an absolute return goal of 8%-10% per annum net of fees.

    The fund will use trading strategies to exploit structural anomalies and tactical investment opportunities in multiple global .......

    Job Swaps 13 December 2010

  • CRE borrower service launched

    1st Service Solutions has launched 1st Equi-Debt Solutions, which aims to offer equity and debt to borrowers of non-performing CRE loans as part of their debt restructure. The new firm was formed by Ann Hambly, founder and ceo of 1st Service Solutions, and Mike Meisenbach, founder of Asset Advisory Alliance. Meisenbach will be based in Texas, where the firm is .......

    Job Swaps 13 December 2010

  • CCR backtesting guidance issued

    The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision has issued its guidance on sound practices for backtesting counterparty credit risk models, which sets out supervisory expectations as well as recommendations to strengthen the backtesting of internal assessments of counterparty credit risk exposures.

    Banks that have received supervisory permission to use internal model methods to calculate regulatory capital are required to validate their .......

    News Round-up 13 December 2010

  • Ambac Financial CDS settled

    Ambac Financial Group CDS have been settled at 9.5. 14 dealers submitted inside markets, physical settlement requests and limit orders to the 10 December auction.

    .......

    News Round-up 13 December 2010

  • Atlas VI closes upsized

    The latest catastrophe bond from SCOR's Atlas programme (SCI 24 November) has closed at a higher than expected €75m. Originally targeting €60m, the European windstorm and Japanese quake deal priced within guidance at 1050bp over three-month Euribor minus 24bp.

    The second series from SCOR's Atlas VI catastrophe bond programme, the series 2010-1 class A notes were rated single-B minus by .......

    News 10 December 2010

  • Fresh Green Fields on offer

    Swiss Re has begun marketing the latest in its "Green" catastrophe bond series. The €75m single-tranche Green Fields series 2011-1 will cover windstorms affecting France and Corsica.

    The transaction has been assigned a preliminary double-B plus rating by S&P. As with previous "Green" cat bonds issued by Swiss Re, such as September's Green Valley II, the proceeds of the notes .......

    News 10 December 2010

  • Foreclosure compliance documentation required

    S&P has announced that it expects all residential servicers in its Select Servicer programme to provide documentation in support of their compliance with proper foreclosure affidavit and attestation procedures by 2Q11. The documentation should include written verification from an independent source that the servicer's foreclosure affidavit preparation and attestation processes are sound and are designed to be in compliance with .......

    News Round-up 10 December 2010

  • 'Simpler' hedge accounting rules proposed

    The IASB has published for comment an exposure draft on the accounting for hedging activities. The proposed model is principle-based and includes enhanced presentation and new disclosure requirements, with the aim of more closely aligning hedge accounting with risk management activities undertaken by companies when hedging their financial and non-financial risk exposures.

    David Tweedie, chairman of the IASB, says: "These .......

    News Round-up 10 December 2010

  • CDO manager consolidation slowing

    The replacement of US CDO asset managers continues to be a trend observed by Fitch, albeit at a declining rate, it says.

    While CDO asset managers can be replaced for a number of reasons, the agency has observed that in most instances, the replacement has been effected due to the outgoing manager: exiting the business and/or ceasing operations altogether; failing .......

    News Round-up 10 December 2010

  • State Street unloads legacy assets

    Goldman Sachs and Barclays Capital are understood to have acquired approximately US$11bn of legacy securitisation assets from State Street. The firm sold around US$4.1bn US non-agency RMBS and US$3.7bn US ABS, as well as US$2.5bn non-US mortgage-backed and US$600m asset-backed securities.

    State Street says this transaction accomplishes several strategic objectives, including: increasing its balance sheet flexibility in deploying its capital; .......

    Job Swaps 10 December 2010

  • Anglo Irish CDS settled

    Anglo Irish Bank subordinated bucket 2 CDS trades were yesterday settled at a final price of 18.25. The remaining buckets - subordinated bucket 3, SNR/SUB bucket 1, senior bucket 2 and senior bucket 3 - were settled at 18, 74.5, 76 and 74.5 respectively. 14 dealers submitted inside markets, physical settlement requests and limit orders to the auction administered by .......

    News Round-up 10 December 2010

  • High inflation could weaken Argentine SF

    Moody's says that GDP growth and low unemployment is expected to continue to support the performance of Argentine banks' and financial companies' loan portfolios and securitisations. Argentine transactions have benefitted from strong credit enhancement and excess spread, while securitisations backed by personal loans with automatic deduction mechanisms performed well compared to the loans without the feature.

    However, the agency says .......

    News Round-up 9 December 2010

  • 'Messy' liquidation for Euro ABS

    The main focus of the European secondary ABS market this week has been the controversial Euromax IV MBS CDO liquidation. Although the auction achieved strong pricing levels, the process was described as "messy".

    "The Euromax liquidation has been the focus of the week," one ABS trader says. Although most prices reached good levels, the process behind the auction - arranged .......

    Market Reports 9 December 2010

  • CDS tail scenarios touted for 2011

    Credit derivative strategists at Morgan Stanley suggest that the beginnings of a transformation in derivatives usage within credit markets is underway, dubbing it 'Credit Derivatives 2.0'. They point to a number of key areas for growth and opportunity in the coming year, the best of which serve some purpose in the market and attract organic demand.

    "If we have one .......

    News 9 December 2010

  • GSE short refi programme participation mooted

    Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are reportedly under pressure to participate in the FHA short refi programme. MBS analysts at Bank of America Merrill Lynch point out that the programme works differently for GSEs than for regular servicers.

    "For the agency MBS market, it is very important to realise that even though [the short refi] programme is designed for borrowers .......

    News 9 December 2010

  • New member for LLMA

    Aviva has joined the Life & Longevity Markets Association (LLMA) as a full member, bringing the LLMA's membership to eleven. The other members are AXA, Deutsche Bank, JPMorgan, Legal & General, Morgan Stanley, Pension Corporation, Prudential, RBS, Swiss Re and UBS.

    The LLMA was formed to promote the development of a liquid traded market in longevity and mortality-related risk, of .......

    Job Swaps 9 December 2010

  • OTC transparency discussed

    ISDA has released two studies on transparency in the OTC derivatives industry, with respect to CDS and interest rate swaps. The studies highlight the spectrum of methods that can be used to increase transparency and the consequences and costs of doing so.

    For CDS, the study found that increased transparency may affect large and small trades differently, suggesting it may be .......

    News Round-up 9 December 2010

  • Euro WBS performance examined

    S&P reports that challenging trading conditions have persisted in most sectors of European corporate securitisations in the second half of 2010. The agency says it has accounted for these short-term conditions in its stresses, which are largely driven by macroeconomic views, as well as the resultant impact on cashflow generation.

    Deterioration in performance has been within the scope of S&P's accounted .......

    News Round-up 9 December 2010

  • Positive momentum for US credit card ABS

    Losses and delinquencies for US prime credit card ABS charge-offs continue to ride a wave of positive momentum as 2010 draws to a close, according to Fitch.

    "Ongoing improvements in delinquency trends indicate card charge-offs may recede further in the coming months. We are starting to see positive divergence of loss rates from employment numbers, which indicates that credit card portfolio .......

    News Round-up 8 December 2010

  • Master trusts 'resilient' to economic deterioration

    Moody's has undertaken its annual assessment of the notes issued by UK prime and non-conforming RMBS master trusts. The analysis indicates that master trust notes, particularly triple-A rated notes, are very resilient to any deterioration in the economic environment and any resulting increases in the expected loss and MILAN Aaa CE assumptions.

    Expected loss and MILAN Aaa CE assumptions were .......

    News Round-up 8 December 2010
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