Complete news archive

  • Confidential rating procedures revised

    S&P has announced that, from 7 September, it will only assign confidential ratings for issuers' own internal use. In addition, issuers requesting confidential ratings must not distribute the ratings to any third party.

    Ratings that issuers wish to disclose on a confidential basis to a limited number of third parties will be labelled 'private ratings', under S&P's new procedures. These .......

    News Round-up 8 September 2010

  • CLO cross-investment mooted

    Avoca Capital is seeking to purchase - though the Lombard Street CLO it took over from KBC Financial Products last December - notes issued by several CLOs it manages. In addition to other investments already contemplated in the transaction documents, the issuer is able to purchase notes from Avoca CLO II, III, IV, V, VII, VIII and IX, as well .......

    News Round-up 8 September 2010

  • SIV amends restricted operations triggers

    Nightingale Finance is proposing to amend and restate the operating manual between the investment manager and the administrator. The amendment will remove certain liquidity triggers and consequences of the SIV's current operating status, restricted operations, as well as that of restricted funding.

    Among other things, the amendment removes restrictions on investment and payment to the capital noteholders while in restricted .......

    News Round-up 8 September 2010

  • Canadian credit card portfolio acquisition completed

    CIBC has completed its acquisition of an approximately US$2bn credit card portfolio from Citigroup's Canadian MasterCard business. CIBC had more than US$14bn in outstanding credit card balances prior to the addition of the MasterCard portfolio, which is expected to be immediately accretive to its earnings.

    Under terms of the transaction, prior to closing, non-performing accounts were removed from the acquired .......

    News Round-up 8 September 2010

  • Positive takeover outcome for FLTST 2

    A potential fire sale of the properties backing the Fleet Street Finance Two CMBS transaction has been averted, following the approval of the Berggruen takeover of Karstadt by a court in Essen. The necessary rental concessions were approved by both the creditors to Highstreet, Karstadt's largest landlord, as well as by mezzanine lenders - thus bringing to an end the .......

    News Round-up 8 September 2010

  • Tightening underwriting standards continue

    The US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) reports that the trend of tightening underwriting standards has continued for the last three years. However, it is beginning to see some easing of standards in response to competition and a slight improvement in credit market liquidity.

    Credit and market risk deputy comptroller Dave Wilson says: "Credit performance remains a .......

    News Round-up 8 September 2010

  • NAIC names CMBS modeller

    The National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) has selected Blackrock Solutions to assist state regulators as they determine risk-based capital (RBC) requirements for the CMBS held by insurers. As the third-party financial modeller, Blackrock Solutions will assist in the assessment of more than 7,000 CMBS holdings by US insurance companies at the end of 2010, measured in terms of unique .......

    News Round-up 8 September 2010

  • 'Surprises' reported in FNMA prepayments

    MBS analysts at Bank of America Merrill Lynch point to a number of surprises in the latest fixed rate 30-year Fannie Mae prepayment report.

    First, aggregate prepayments increased by 27% from 18.5% CPR to 23.6% CPR. "This jump is surprising, given that it implies a 35%-40% increase in refinancings, while recent month-over-month changes in the MBA refi index did not .......

    News Round-up 8 September 2010

  • More REO sales coming

    Moody's Analytics' chief economist Mark Zandi said that more real estate-owned (REO) sales are on the rise, during a speech this week at a Federal Reserve US Housing Market and Neighborhoods forum. About 4.1 million first mortgage loans are in foreclosure or are clearly headed in that direction, he noted. Their data includes 49 millon first mortgage loans outstanding.

    But .......

    News Round-up 8 September 2010

  • ICE buy-side single names to clear soon

    ICE remains optimistic about launching a buy-side single name CDS clearing service in the coming months, according to a spokesperson at the firm. The launch was originally slated for early September.

    "We are working with both the buy-side and regulators to do that. We think we'll still be able to make that happen," the spokesperson adds.

    ICE clearinghouses report US$11.5trn .......

    News Round-up 8 September 2010

  • No new series for LevX

    The Markit iTraxx, CDX.NA.IG, CDX.EM and CDX.EM.DIV indices are scheduled to roll into their new series on 20 September. The CDX.NA.HY will be rolling into its new series on 27 September, while the MCDX and LCDX indices will roll into their new series on 4 October.

    Provisional and final constituent lists for the indices will be posted in the run-up .......

    News Round-up 8 September 2010

  • GSE housing goals established

    The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) has sent a final rule to the Federal Register establishing new housing goals for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac for 2010-2011. The final rule establishes three single-family, owner-occupied home purchase mortgage goals for low-income families, very low-income families and families living in geographical areas with lower-income populations, areas with high concentrations of minority residents .......

    News Round-up 8 September 2010

  • Index skew monetisation trade touted

    Credit derivatives strategists at Barclays Capital recommend selling 1x2 payer spreads with a December expiry as an attractive way to monetise the steep skew in three-month iTraxx Main implied volatility. They put forward a trade that earns 11bp upfront and has positive P&L if iTraxx Main is below 167bp on 15 December.

    Although implied volatility in iTraxx Main options has .......

    News Round-up 8 September 2010

  • MBX index prepped

    Markit is set to launch a new series of structured finance indices, dubbed MBX, on 12 September. The move is being driven by demand for combined exposure to the cashflows of its recently launched IOS and PO indices.

    The MBX series of indices will reference the same fixed rate agency pools as the existing IOS and PO indices, with new .......

    News Round-up 8 September 2010

  • CLO equity investor boost?

    CDO analysts at Wells Fargo don't expect the US CLO primary market to return in scale until at least the second quarter of next year. New issuance for the remainder of 2010 is anticipated to continue featuring smaller, clubby-type deals.

    "As with the 2010 new issue deals, we expect most new issue CLOs to be slightly unique situations, such as .......

    News 8 September 2010

  • Compensation reform well under way

    Significant progress has been made in improving compensation policies and practices, according to an international survey of wholesale banks. Findings show that most major banks are now implementing compensation schemes in line with standards published by the Financial Stability Board (FSB) in September last year.

    The survey - undertaken by the Institute of International Finance (IIF) and Oliver Wyman - .......

    News 8 September 2010

  • Capital markets partner recruited

    Elana Hahn has joined Morrison & Foerster's capital markets group as partner in its London office. Formerly with Mayer Brown International, she represents financial institutions, fund managers and US and UK corporations in pan-European and international financings.

    Hahn has particular expertise in debt capital markets, fund and structured debt transactions across a wide range of industries and asset classes. Her .......

    Job Swaps 8 September 2010

  • Middle-market broker-dealer minted

    Cortview Capital Securities has commenced business operations, having received a US$125m capital commitment backing from Warburg Pincus. The broker-dealer will focus on fixed income sales, trading, origination and securitisation, serving a national middle-markets client base.

    The firm is headquartered in Richmond, Virginia, and has offices in New York, Charlotte and Boca Raton. Cortview's four founders include Theodore Luse, who will .......

    Job Swaps 8 September 2010

  • Industrial CMBS loan secured

    Holliday Fenoglio Fowler (HFF) has arranged a US$114m financing for six industrial distribution facilities, totalling 4.7m square feet, located in Georgia, Illinois, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Texas. The loan, arranged for Cardinal Industrial Real Estate, will be included in an upcoming CMBS securitisation and serviced by HFF.

    Loan proceeds were used to acquire the portfolio from Dividend Capital Trust, which acquired .......

    News Round-up 8 September 2010

  • August US CMBS delinquency rate accelerates

    The delinquency rate for commercial real estate loans in US CMBS accelerated in August after two successive months in which increases in the delinquency rate had moderated, according to Trepp's latest National CMBS Delinquency Report. The delinquency rate last month was up by 21bp after an increase of only 12bp in July.

    However, Trepp points out that this increase is .......

    News Round-up 8 September 2010

  • Sovereign, Euro ratings 'impossible' to de-link

    According to Fitch, it is impossible to completely de-link the ratings of eurozone securitisation transactions from those of the relevant sovereign.

    Marjan van der Weijden, md and head of EMEA ABS at Fitch, says: "Increased sovereign default risk can affect the performance of securitisations in various ways, as it bears negatively on the macroeconomic environment and raises the prospect of .......

    News Round-up 8 September 2010
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