Complete news archive

  • Issuers given six-month Reg AB reprieve

    The SEC Division of Corporation Finance on 22 July issued a no-action letter that provided some relief to ABS issuers, following the backlash created by the repeal of Rule 436(g) of the Securities Act the day before (see also separate News Analysis). The Rule exempted NRSROs from expert liability and its repeal - under the Dodd-Frank Act - sparked concern about the impact of providing written .......

    News Round-up 28 July 2010

  • CLO equity holders benefit from Libor floor

    CLO equity is proving to be a significant beneficiary from low US interest rates.

    Structured credit strategists at Citi point out that the replacement of loans in CLO portfolios with new loans, most of which have Libor floors, has resulted in roughly 25% of US CLO collateral now having an average Libor floor of 2%. With no such floor on .......

    News Round-up 28 July 2010

  • PPIF activity revealed

    Further details on PPIP fund activity have emerged in a new SIGTARP report. Final capital raised by the various PPIP funds is US$7.4bn of private equity, which - taken with US$7.4bn of Treasury equity and US$14.7bn of Treasury debt - totals around US$29.4bn of buying power.

    The total is short of the US$40bn of maximum buying power the TARP programme .......

    News Round-up 28 July 2010

  • Sallie Mae concerned over CP market

    SLM Corp said on its 21 July conference call that it remains concerned over the liquidity in the commercial paper market and its funding next quarter.

    "The CP-Libor spread was very favourable in Q2. As we start Q3, that has reversed," said Jack Remondi, vice chairman and cfo at SLM Corp. "This is an area where we continue to have .......

    News Round-up 28 July 2010

  • Trading ideas: time for a fill-up

    Dave Klein, senior research analyst at Credit Derivatives Re...

    Valero Energy's CDS has been on a roll this month. After the company's CDS hit tights in April along with equity highs, both securities sold off with the rest of the market.

    Recently, Valero's CDS recovered, while its equity remained at the low end of the tight channel in which it traded since March 2009. Now is an excellent time .......

    Research Notes 28 July 2010

  • Two new partners for Jersey law firm

    Law firm Carey Olsen has announced the promotion of both Robert Milner and Simon Marks to partner in the Jersey corporate and finance practice area.

    Marks joined Olsen in 2006 and works on structured finance, corporate and tax law. In particular, he has advised on a variety of tax-related structured finance matters and securitisation transactions.

    Milner joined Olsen in 2005 .......

    Job Swaps 28 July 2010

  • Structured products pro to lead research services

    Fitch Solutions has appointed Neil Smith as md of its research services group in New York. Smith will be responsible for further developing the group's commercial activities, reporting to London-based Fitch md Thomas Aubrey.

    Smith joins Fitch from Bank of New York Mellon (BNYM), where he ran the bank's global provision of fixed income products and services for institutional clients .......

    Job Swaps 28 July 2010

  • Cleared CDS salesman hired as md

    After winning his CDS insider-trading case with the US SEC, Jon-Paul Rorech is believed to be joining UBS in August as md in its hedge fund credit sales department.

    Rorech, who was on paid administrative leave from Deutsche Bank, previously worked as a CDS salesman before being charged with passing confidential tips to a Millennium Partners hedge fund investment manager .......

    Job Swaps 28 July 2010

  • Asia Pacific investment head named

    PIMCO has appointed Ki Myung Hong as md and head of the Asia Pacific region. Hong will also oversee the firm's business in the Hong Kong, Singapore, Sydney and Tokyo offices, reporting to Douglas Hodge, PIMCO's coo.

    Hong has 27 years of financial services experience and most recently held senior positions for the Asia Pacific region with Bank of America .......

    Job Swaps 28 July 2010

  • Structured credit trading vet hired

    UniCredit has appointed Tim Armitage as an md in London. He was previously senior md and European co-head of structured credit trading at Bear Stearns.

    .......

    Job Swaps 28 July 2010

  • CMBS vet finds new home

    Arvind Bajaj has joined The Lightstone Group in New York as evp of investments. He will oversee and manage the firm's acquisition efforts, capital markets activities and investment strategies.

    Bajaj has over 20 years of experience building successful commercial real estate franchises and was most recently managing principal with Park Hill Real Estate. Prior to this, he was md at .......

    Job Swaps 28 July 2010

  • Bank beefs up in sales

    Nomura has announced three senior appointments. Guy Cornelius and Raffaele Ricci have been named co-heads of fixed income sales for EMEA, while Eng Chien Chan becomes md and head of the firm's corporate sales and risk solutions platform for Asia ex-Japan.

    Cornelius and Ricci will be based in London and report to Georges Assi and Kieran Higgins, co-heads of fixed .......

    Job Swaps 28 July 2010

  • FI sales and trading platform expands

    BTIG continues to expand its US fixed income sales and trading platform with the addition of three directors - Irene Fan, Tim Sumner and Brian Danahy.

    Fan joins BTIG's San Francisco office as a director in the fixed income sales structured products group. She has been providing sales coverage to institutional clientele for over 15 years, most recently with Jesup .......

    Job Swaps 28 July 2010

  • Credit fund names new managing partner

    Jack Yang has joined Onex Credit Partners (OCP) as managing partner, bringing over 25 years of credit market experience and business leadership to the firm. He was formerly the managing partner of Highland Capital Management.

    "Jack brings an extraordinary track record of building and managing world-class credit businesses," says Gerald Schwartz, Onex' chairman and ceo. "We have known Jack for .......

    Job Swaps 28 July 2010

  • AmeriCredit's securitisation practices to stay

    General Motor's acquisition of AmeriCredit will not alter the securitisation practices of the subprime lender, executives at GM said on a 22 July conference call. AmeriCredit will maintain its own direct access to the capital markets for its financing requirements.

    "AmeriCredit has a strong securitisation record...we don't foresee changing the funding level at all," confirmed Chris Liddell, GM vice-chairman and .......

    Job Swaps 28 July 2010

  • Subprime misrepresentations costs bank US$7.5m

    FINRA has fined Deutsche Bank Securities (DB) US$7.5m for negligently misrepresenting delinquency data in connection with the issuance of subprime securities. FINRA found that DB negligently misrepresented and underreported the percentages of mortgages that were delinquent in the prospectus supplements of six subprime RMBS issued in 2006.

    The firm also failed to correct errors by a third-party vendor and servicers, .......

    Job Swaps 28 July 2010

  • Advisory services subsidiary sold

    Ambac Financial Group has completed the sale of its advisory services subsidiary, RangeMark Financial Services, to the firm's management. The monoline says it will continue to contract with RangeMark for certain valuation services for a period of time, however.

    .......

    Job Swaps 28 July 2010

  • NY Fed enhances supervisory practices

    The Federal Reserve Bank of New York has appointed Sarah Dahlgren as head of bank supervision and Roseann Stichnoth as head of its special investments management group (SIMG).

    Dahlgren has been in charge of the SIMG since January 2010 and will move to bank supervision in September to spend the remainder of the year working with William Rutledge, the current .......

    Job Swaps 28 July 2010

  • PPIF portfolio composition unveiled

    Western Asset Mortgage Defined Opportunity Fund has disclosed its portfolio composition, as of 30 June 2010. The fund intends to invest in MBS directly and indirectly through a separate US$68m investment in a public-private investment fund formed in connection with the legacy securities PPIP.

    The US$242.97m 5.02-year portfolio comprises 95.9% RMBS (made up of 42.5% prime, 37.7% alt-A and 15.6% .......

    Job Swaps 28 July 2010

  • Enhancements made to valuations service

    S&P Valuation and Risk Strategies has added a number of enhancements to its valuations offering. The firm says the new enhancements will make it easier for customers to gain a better perspective on interpreting yield changes.

    These enhancements include expanded yield curve data across the US, Europe and Asia. Another new feature enables terms and conditions data users to have .......

    News Round-up 28 July 2010

  • Risk system integrates CMBS deal library

    The Kamakura Risk Manager (KRM) enterprise risk system now offers direct access to Trepp's CMBS deal library. This includes access to the integrated simulation in KRM interest rate risk, GAAP net income, market risk, credit risk, liquidity risk, stress testing and capital needs for portfolios that include CMBS-related structured products.

    David Boldon, Kamakura's Washington DC representative, says: "Adding KRM access .......

    News Round-up 28 July 2010
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