Complete news archive

  • Repurchases lift CRE CDO delinquencies

    US CRE CDO delinquencies decreased slightly last month as asset repurchases slowed, according to Fitch's latest delinquency index results for the sector. Delinquencies dropped from 12.2% in June to 12% last month.

    "Despite the slight overall decline in recent months, asset defaults will likely rise as the credit cycle progresses," says Fitch director Stacey McGovern, who also believes the delinquency .......

    News Round-up 18 August 2010

  • Risk specialist moves

    Kinetic Partners has appointed Isabelle Tykoczinski as a member of the firm. She joins the London risk team from Measurisk, where she was head of Europe for the risk transparency and risk measurement service, specialising in hedge funds.

    Tykoczinski has worked for Indosuez, JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley, specialising in structured products. Before Measurisk, she worked at Reech Capital in the .......

    Job Swaps 18 August 2010

  • Stable trend for global SF ratings

    Fitch says that the ratio of affirmations to downgrades in its global structured finance ratings improved in Q210, demonstrating an overall continued stabilisation in rating trends for the sector. However, the agency notes that the number of downgrades increased last quarter compared to the first three months of the year.

    Downgrades continue to be driven by the number of rating .......

    News Round-up 18 August 2010

  • FDIC makes changes for Dodd-Frank

    The FDIC Board of Directors approved a new office and division that will help it carry out its responsibilities under the Dodd-Frank Act and provide increased visibility. The FDIC's Office of Complex Financial Institutions (CFI) will review and oversee bank holding companies with more than US$100bn in assets, as well as non-bank financial companies designated as systemically important by the .......

    Job Swaps 18 August 2010

  • 'Seasonal effect' to hit timeshare ABS performance

    According to Fitch's latest timeshare ABS indices, US timeshare ABS delinquencies and defaults are down for the second straight quarter, although the trend will not last if seasonal patterns take hold.

    "The seasonal effect will fade in the latter half of the year, leading to modest increases in delinquencies," says Fitch director Brad Sohl.

    Nonetheless, year-over-year improvements will continue to .......

    News Round-up 18 August 2010

  • Firms collaborate on real estate valuations

    FNC has entered into a partnership with Integrated Asset Services (IAS) to offer FNC's servicing clients an option for procuring next-generation real estate valuations.

    With IAS already integrated into FNC's Collateral Management Systems (CMS) platform, clients can order broker price opinions (BPOs) or appraisals as part of FNC's collateral risk management solution. IAS' product combines hard data with both comparative .......

    Job Swaps 18 August 2010

  • Spanish RMBS reviewed on reporting error

    The share of written-off loans has been understated in recent investor reports for most of the transactions managed by Gestión de Activos Titulizados (GaT). Loans subject to 'compra-venta' (sale of mortgage properties to real estate companies with funds flowing back to the SPV) or 'cesión de remate' (third-party assignment in an auction) were not reported within the cumulative write-off figures. .......

    News Round-up 18 August 2010

  • Small rise seen in US CMBS delinquencies

    The delinquency rate on loans backing US CMBS increased by 18bp in July to 7.89%, according to Moody's delinquency tracker (DQT), marking the smallest rise in the CMBS delinquency rate since February 2009.

    Moody's md Nick Levidy says: "Although the monthly increases in the DQT have trailed off since March, we do not expect this trend to continue unabated for .......

    News Round-up 18 August 2010

  • Impact of CDS margining explored

    Fitch has analysed how the use of leverage by investors in credit default swap transactions - particularly through margining - magnifies credit exposure, variability in return on capital and broader market cyclicality. There has been renewed focus on the leverage obtainable through CDS, given the relatively low level of 'down payment' or margin needed to take credit positions in this .......

    News Round-up 18 August 2010

  • Trading ideas: wind at its back

    Byron Douglass, senior research analyst at Credit Derivative...

    Aggressive high yield bond buying came back in fashion recently as bond inflows shot upwards and Windstream's 2016 bond offers a great opportunity. Fundamentally we have been bullish on Windstream's credit spread for some time now and believe the best place to express that view is in a negative basis trade. The company's 8 5/8s of August 2016 bond trades .......

    Research Notes 18 August 2010

  • FGIC Corp files for Chapter 11

    FGIC Corp has filed a voluntary petition for relief under Chapter 11 of the US Bankruptcy Code in the Southern District of New York. The company expects the Chapter 11 filing to enable it to deleverage its balance sheet and restructure more than US$300m of debt.

    As part of the filing, FGIC submitted a plan of reorganisation and disclosure statement. .......

    Job Swaps 18 August 2010

  • IG and HY CDS moving 'in tandem'

    Fitch expects that the new derivatives legislation for 'riskier trades' will not impact liquidity for investment grade exchange cleared CDS names, as they will continue to be well utilised by banks. However, the impact on CDS liquidity for non-investment grade non-exchange cleared names remains unclear at this stage, the agency says.

    The derivatives section of the Dodd-Frank Act states that .......

    News Round-up 18 August 2010

  • Bank MBS holdings drop

    Second-quarter bank holding company (BHCs) consolidated financial statements released by the National Information Center (NIC) indicate that the top 50 US BHCs shed US$32bn of RMBS during the period. MBS analysts at Barclays Capital notes that this decline was led by the top four banks by total assets, whose net position in RMBS declined by the same amount.

    The NIC .......

    News Round-up 18 August 2010

  • New breed of CLO prepped

    Fitch and Moody's have assigned expected ratings to the class A and B notes of a European arbitrage CLO, ICG EOS Loan Fund I. Unlike more traditional CLOs, reinvestment of unscheduled principal proceeds is not permitted after the reinvestment period, so this transaction will de-lever comparatively quickly.

    ICG EOS Loan Fund I will be managed by Intermediate Capital Managers (ICM), .......

    News 18 August 2010

  • Subprime RMBS index stabilising

    Prices continue to stabilise in Fitch Solutions' Subprime RMBS Total Market Price Index, though the momentum of monthly price increases may be hitting a plateau.

    The index increased 1.5% this past month to stand at 9.88 at of the end of July. While still 30% higher than levels at the end of last year, the levelling off in performance is .......

    News Round-up 18 August 2010

  • Structured credit boost

    BDCs could help kick-start the CLO market

    Business development companies (BDCs) could be set to become the new source of the structured credit bid. Golub Capital BDC 2010-1, a US$300m CLO (SCI passim), is the lowest cost middle-market CLO since April 2008 when the bar was set by a previous Golub deal.

    "While the structured bid from CLOs remains muted, we expect some of the slack in .......

    News Analysis 18 August 2010

  • Long road ahead

    Loopholes remain in GSE reform proposals

    Amid what works and doesn't work in reforming the GSEs, one thing remains certain - the US government's firm grasp over the entities is not likely to loosen anytime soon. But whether that remains at an arm's length or not is open for debate.

    "When you look at the liquidity function the GSEs apply to the market, in a distressed .......

    News Analysis 18 August 2010

  • Backstop to Euro CMBS loan extensions?

    The special servicer for the Castlegate loan (the last remaining within the Ursus 1 CMBS) has announced that, even if it considers it appropriate, it is unable to provide an extension of the loan without the consent of each class of noteholders. The maturity date of the notes (July 2012) is now less than two years away and any extension .......

    News Round-up 18 August 2010

  • Federal agencies seek ratings comments

    In a joint release, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the FDIC, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and Office of Thrift Supervision agreed to publish an advance notice of proposed rulemaking about alternatives to the use of credit ratings in their risk-based capital rules for banking organisations. The notice is in response to section 939A .......

    News Round-up 18 August 2010

  • Taking control

    New structural features boost US CMBS

    A pair of new US CMBS transactions priced over the last fortnight (see also last issue). The structural innovations of one in particular - the US$788m GSMS 2010-C1 - caught the market's attention.

    The GSMS 2010-C1 deal, via Goldman Sachs and Citi, showcases a change-in-control feature whereby the most junior investor no longer has the ability to appoint or direct .......

    News Analysis 18 August 2010

  • Non-agency MBS alternative?

    US covered bond developments debated

    Congress is set to debate the Covered Bonds Act next month - a move that has been welcomed by investors looking for an alternative to non-agency RMBS. However, issuers appear to be less convinced about the development of a covered bond market in the US.

    According to one RMBS investor, it's premature to expect the buy-side to re-enter the US .......

    News Analysis 18 August 2010
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