Complete news archive

  • Rating agency adds SF trio

    DBRS has made a trio of appointments across its US and European structured finance groups.

    Mike Babick joins the agency as svp and lead analyst, focusing on its ABS business. He reports to Claire Mezzanotte, head of the firm's US and European ABS, RMBS and covered bond group. Babick previously worked at Assured Guaranty Corporation as md in its consumer .......

    Job Swaps 9 November 2010

  • European private placement market wanted

    A fully-functioning European private placement market could add in excess of €25bn of available funding for companies, according to a report by Bishopsfield Capital Partners.

    Private placements and the issuance of unrated and privately negotiated medium- to long-term debt with institutional investors have historically been dominated by US capital markets, the firm says. Despite the creation of the Euro and .......

    News Round-up 9 November 2010

  • Mortality CLN issued

    Signum Finance Cayman Limited Series 2010-09 has issued US$200m of credit-linked notes that reference the mortality experience of a block of insurance policies. The issuer is a bankruptcy-remote SPV established to issue the notes, the proceeds of which are used to purchase collateral assets in the form of 15-year senior unsecured bonds issued by Goldman Sachs Group. The issuer also .......

    News Round-up 9 November 2010

  • US mortgage default rates improving

    S&P reports that default rates among US residential mortgage loans continued to improve through 3Q10. However, the uncertain climate in the housing market highlights the possibility that conditions could deteriorate further, the agency says.

    "Monthly default rates improved the most among subprime and Alt-A loans, while prime default rates remained largely unchanged," says Diane Westerback, S&P's head of global surveillance .......

    News Round-up 8 November 2010

  • Broker CDS mixed as indicators of default

    The overall performance of CDS spreads as indicators of default risk during the financial crisis was mixed for the US broker-dealer sector, according Fitch.

    As of October 2007, CDS spreads for the financial institutions sector were 50bp - implying an annual default probability of less than 1%. However, during the 12 ensuing year, two of the 30 entities within Fitch's .......

    News Round-up 8 November 2010

  • New issuance takes its toll on US secondary ABS

    It has been business as usual in the US secondary ABS market over the past week, with levels holding up to some extent. However, as new issuance increasingly dominates the market, a lack of investor interest in secondary activity is beginning to take its toll.

    "The market's busy with new deals, but secondary levels have remained fairly strong in some .......

    Market Reports 8 November 2010

  • Collateral broadened for Euro clearinghouse

    ICE Clear Europe is to accept gold bullion as collateral for CDS transactions for initial margin only. Starting from 22 November, gold bullion will be accepted by the clearinghouse via electronic transfer in increments of 1 troy ounce and will be priced daily using the London Gold Fixing Price in US dollars.

    In addition, ICE Clear Europe recently introduced a .......

    News Round-up 8 November 2010

  • CRE firm on hiring spree

    The Situs Companies has opened a new office in Atlanta, Georgia, headed by Tammy Ellerbe. As part of the firm's integrated platform, the new office offers due diligence, loan underwriting, primary and special servicing, and asset management.

    Ellerbe will initially recruit 25 professionals with experience in CRE loan underwriting, collateral valuation, asset management, workouts and strategic disposition and REO advisory .......

    Job Swaps 8 November 2010

  • Japanese CMBS loan behaviour analysed

    Moody's reports that a large proportion of Japanese CMBS loans maturing this month and next are originated in 2007, backed by retail properties or amount to more than Y20bn each.

    16 loans totalling Y270.9bn will mature in November and December - the equivalent of 24% of the CMBS loan amounts maturing in 2010, the agency says. 40% of the loans .......

    News Round-up 8 November 2010

  • EU CRA consultation launched

    The European Commission has launched a broad consultation on credit rating agencies (CRAs), which aims to widen the debate and gain input from all stakeholders in order to calibrate the scope of any possible future legislative initiative in the area. From 7 December 2010, new EU regulations will require CRAs to comply with rules of conduct in order to minimise .......

    News Round-up 8 November 2010

  • Advisory services head recruited

    Steven Campo has been appointed managing partner, advisory services at Paladin Advisors. He was previously principal at SeaView Advisors, an advisory firm focused on bringing specialised services to the structured finance marketplace.

     

    .......

    Job Swaps 8 November 2010

  • Milestone drop for CMBS delinquencies

    Fitch reports that US CMBS loan delinquencies have declined for the first time in 33 months, according to its latest loan delinquency index results, with a large assist from the hotel sector.

    CMBS delinquencies dropped by 88bp to 7.78% due largely, the agency says, to the resolution of seven loans greater than US$100m - including the US$4.1bn Extended Stay America .......

    News Round-up 5 November 2010

  • Loss assumptions updated on 14 UK RMBS

    Moody's has updated its loss assumptions for 14 UK non-conforming RMBS, but has taken no rating action in consideration of the sufficient levels of credit enhancement. The affected transactions are: Eurohome UK Mortgages 2007-2; Great Hall Mortgages No 1 Series 2006-01; Leek Finance 17, 18, 20 and 21; Mortgages No 7; RMAC 2005-NS1, 2005-NSP2, 2005-NS3 and 2005-NS4; ResLoC UK 2007-1; .......

    News Round-up 5 November 2010

  • Delaying the inevitable?

    Market braces itself for fallout from forced loan extensions

    As the much-debated maturity cliff starts to loom larger on the horizon, focus is increasingly turning to CLO extension risk. While loan extensions might be beneficial in some cases, in others default - whether sooner or later - is beginning to look inevitable.

    The slower the market recovery, the more loans will need to extend to have any chance of .......

    News Analysis 5 November 2010

  • Panoramic approach

    Bob Park, ceo and co-founder of FINCAD, answers SCI's questions

    Q: How and when did FINCAD become involved in the structured finance markets?
    A:     FINCAD is a 20-year-old company. Our core competence is building financial analytics for valuation and risk measurement.

    We have been selling software for the last 19 years and over that time we have licensed our software to 4,000 different organisations in more than 80 different countries. Very .......

    Provider Profile 5 November 2010

  • LCM VIII progresses

    Further details have emerged on LCM Asset Management's highly-anticipated CLO, the US$300m LCM VIII. The deal is expected to close on 23 November via Bank of America Securities.

    The CLO comprises US$197m triple-A rated class A notes (which are anticipated to price at 160bp over three-month Libor), US$23m double-A rated class Bs (225bp), US$26m class C deferrable notes (300bp) and .......

    News 5 November 2010

  • Structured solutions co-head named

    RBS has appointed Chris Marks as co-head of structured solutions. He will report to Rory Cullinan, the firm's head of non-core division.

    Marks was previously an md in Barclays Capital's London structured finance team.

    .......

    Job Swaps 5 November 2010

  • US subprime servicer advances declining

    Further evidence of US mortgage servicers' more pessimistic view of recovery prospects is in the steadily declining rate of servicer advances on delinquent mortgage loans, according to Fitch's latest Performance Metrics results for the sector.

    Where mortgage servicers were advancing payments on over 90% of delinquent loans across all asset types during the market peak of 2006, the number has .......

    News Round-up 5 November 2010

  • COMET on review following servicer downgrade

    Moody's says its ratings on 47 classes of ABS issued out of the Capital One Multi-asset Execution Trust (COMET) remain under review for possible downgrade, following the 1 November downgrade of Capital One Bank's long-term senior unsecured rating to A3 from A2. The rating agency has also extended its review of the counterparty instrument rating to the swap agreement relating .......

    News Round-up 5 November 2010

  • Asian structured credit fund minted

    Hong Kong-based Oracle Capital has launched its second fund, Oracle Structured Credit Segregated Portfolio 2. The fund targets non-US investors and will focus on securities backed by a variety of corporate credit assets. It offers a five-year investment period, with a lock-up for the first year and monthly investor redemption thereafter.

    Oracle may trade or hold assets until maturity in .......

    Job Swaps 5 November 2010

  • SIVs affirmed following review

    S&P has affirmed - following a review - its issuer credit ratings (ICRs) and senior liability ratings on the Centauri, Five Finance, Links Finance, Parkland, Harrier Finance Funding, Kestral Funding and Nightingale Finance SIVs. The rating affirmations follow an assessment of the support arrangements of each SIV. In each case, the SIV's ICR and senior liabilities ratings are linked to .......

    News Round-up 5 November 2010
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