Complete news archive

  • Auction fears

    NextStudent liquidation likely to come up short

    The first-ever liquidation of a student loan ABS is due today, 21 July. However, holders of the affected notes are looking for a higher dollar price than the set minimum price.

    Citigroup Capital Markets, as a liquidation agent for NextStudent Master Trust I, will conduct a public auction to sell the entire collateral pool to repay the outstanding notes. "This is .......

    News Analysis 21 July 2010

  • Trups CDO defaults continue to increase

    According to Fitch's latest default and deferral indices for the sector, three new bank defaults from previously deferring issuers has resulted in another increase of 13.7% on Trups CDO defaults. Last month's new defaults totalled US$72.5m, affecting 10 CDOs.

    Additionally, 22 banks began deferring interest payments on roughly US$302.5m of collateral in 23 Trups CDOs. Fitch director Johann Juan says: .......

    News Round-up 21 July 2010

  • CMBS loan, note maturity extensions approved

    The Mall Funding 1 restructuring proposal has been approved by noteholders (see SCI issue 189). Under the restructuring, the loan maturity will be extended to April 2015 (from April 2012) and the note maturity will be extended to April 2017 (from April 2014).

    £50m of the notes will be prepaid on completion of the restructuring, as well as a prepayment .......

    News Round-up 21 July 2010

  • 'Calm' Euro CMBS sector may be short-lived

    The relative calm experienced in the European CMBS sector during June may be short-lived, according to S&P.

    S&P credit analyst Judith O'Driscoll says: "Last month, loan breaches dropped for the first time since we began monthly reporting in November 2008 and servicers didn't transfer any loans to special servicing. However, this is more likely to be a reflection of the reporting .......

    News Round-up 21 July 2010

  • Wind farm securitisation downgraded

    Fitch has downgraded CRC Breeze Finance's (Breeze Two) €258.4m class A notes to double-B minus from double-B and assigned a negative outlook. Fitch has also downgraded the €36m class B notes to single-B minus from single-B and assigned a stable outlook. The downgrades result from a combination of lower-than-expected energy yield, higher-than- anticipated operating costs, technical difficulties with some turbines .......

    News Round-up 21 July 2010

  • Regulatory push

    Solvency II to drive more ILS transactions, but could hit use of CLOs

    What is widely believed to be the last remaining test of Solvency II, the fifth quantitative impact study (QIS5), is due to wind down this autumn. While some insurers could take a hit from having to meet higher capital requirements, several are likely to gain on their use of derivatives as hedges, particularly with longevity swaps.

    Solvency II specifically recognises .......

    News Analysis 21 July 2010

  • Consumer credit default rates decline

    Data through to June 2010 for the S&P/Experian Consumer Credit Default Indices indicate that monthly default rates declined for all five credit lines covered by the indices.

    Defaulting balances of bank card loans were 8.8% in June, down from 8.9% in May. First and second mortgage default rates were 3.3% and 2.4% respectively, with first mortgage default rates declining by .......

    News Round-up 21 July 2010

  • Regeneration required

    Changes necessary to see new issuance of Euro CMBS

    After a difficult couple of years for European CMBS, another daunting stretch extends before it. If the market is going to survive and be strong enough to start seeing some new issuance, then it must first reinvent itself.

    New European CMBS issuance so far in 2010 has been extremely limited: Vesteda launched a privately-placed €350m tap issuance from its Vesteda .......

    News Analysis 21 July 2010

  • Ratings reliance

    Staffing developments indicate continued life for the credit rating model

    In the last week Kroll Bond Ratings announced its senior management team, while Jefferies named its ratings advisory head (see Job Swaps). The developments underline investors' continued reliance on credit ratings - albeit they may require more information and advice than before.

    Mike Nawas, partner at Bishopsfield Capital Partners, says that the pessimism about investors relying less on ratings post-crisis .......

    News Analysis 21 July 2010

  • CDS spreads reflecting credit quality distinctions

    According to Fitch Solutions' latest earnings commentary, rising CDS spreads are forcing the market to make greater credit quality distinctions, with Morgan Stanley and other financial firms serving as notable examples.

    Underperforming both the broader market and its banking peers over the past three months, Morgan Stanley has established a non-investment grade trading pattern in the CDS market. CDS spreads .......

    News Round-up 21 July 2010

  • Sukuk potential

    Islamic finance ready for new style of issuance

    The sukuk market is seen as having huge potential if it can be tapped correctly. Indeed, Islamic finance could become a breeding ground for new structured finance products, with recent innovative issuances and new issuers coming to the market.

    Cagamas' Sukuk al-Amanah Li al-Istithmar (Sukuk ALIm - see last issue) is one example of a new breed of Islamic bond. .......

    News Analysis 21 July 2010

  • TALF credit protection reduced in line with outstandings

    The Federal Reserve Board says it agrees with the US Treasury that it's appropriate to reduce the credit protection provided for TALF transactions under the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) from US$20bn to US$4.3bn. The Board had initially authorised up to US$200bn in TALF loans, but when the programme closed on 30 June only US$43bn in loans were outstanding.

    Although .......

    News Round-up 21 July 2010

  • Monoline completes remediation plan

    Syncora Guarantee has completed its remediation plan to meet its minimum statutory policyholder surplus requirements and address its previously announced liquidity issues. The remediation plan included: purchases of certain guaranteed exposures; monetisation of its illiquid assets; receipt of a partial prepayment of a surplus note from its owned subsidiary Syncora Capital Assurance; and various other loss remediation and restructuring actions.

    Job Swaps 21 July 2010

  • New York CMBS md recruited

    Bank of America has appointed George Kok as md, responsible for conduit lending in New York. He will report to Michael Mazzei, head of commercial real estate debt capital markets at the firm.

    Most recently, Kok was head of credit at FundCore Finance in New York. Prior to that, he oversaw conduit lending at Merrill Lynch from 2001 to 2008, .......

    Job Swaps 21 July 2010

  • Sales and trading platform expands

    RBS Securities has expanded its MBS & ABS sales and trading teams within its global banking and markets division in the Americas.

    Sean Whelan and Colin McGahren have joined the firm's MBS and ABS sales team, while Brian Song has joined RBS as head of agency pass-through trading. Based in Stamford, Connecticut, Song will report to David Cannon and Scott .......

    Job Swaps 21 July 2010

  • Ratings advisory md named

    Paul Sandoli has joined Jefferies as md and head of its ratings advisory group, in a further expansion of the firm's debt capital markets business. Sandoli will be responsible for leading the firm's efforts in providing credit rating and capital structure advice and analysis to corporate clients in connection with their capital raising and acquisition financing decisions.

    Sandoli has over .......

    Job Swaps 21 July 2010

  • Plans to introduce SF rating identifier confirmed

    Fitch, Moody's and DBRS have confirmed that they will introduce a structured finance rating identifier '(sf)' over the summer. S&P announced its plans to do the same at the end of June (see SCI issue 191).

    Fitch clarified that the modifier will only indicate that a security is a structured finance instrument and will not reflect any other change to the meaning .......

    News 21 July 2010

  • BoE updates on ABS transparency initiative

    The Bank of England has updated the market on its initiative to require greater information transparency in relation to ABS as part of the eligibility criteria for instruments accepted in its operations. It has also disclosed the results of its recent consultation on broadening the range of collateral eligible in the Discount Window Facility (DWF) to include loan portfolios The .......

    News Round-up 21 July 2010

  • Russian RMBS rated amid stabilising arrears

    Loans originated by Russia's Agency for Housing Mortgage Lending (AHML) have been used to back a R13.5bn securitisation. The move comes amid stabilising arrears levels for most Russian and Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) RMBS transactions.

    The AHML loans were originated by a number of regional banks and non-banking entities in 77 regions of the Russian Federation. Moody's has rated two .......

    News 21 July 2010

  • UK master trust review completed

    Following a performance review, Fitch has affirmed 10 UK RMBS master trust programmes, but has also downgraded some Aire Valley, Granite and Whinstone Capital Management notes.

    Fitch's analysis covered the expected loss of each pool in different rating categories and an in-depth cashflow analysis with further stressing. It says negative rating action has been very restricted.

    "Following its performance review, .......

    News Round-up 21 July 2010

  • Goldman settles Abacus case

    Goldman Sachs has settled with the US SEC over charges that it misled investors in the Abacus 2007-AC1 CDO (see SCI issue 181). The firm has agreed to pay US$550m - the SEC's largest-ever penalty paid by a Wall Street firm - and reform its business practices. Goldman also acknowledged that its marketing materials for the product contained incomplete information.

    News 21 July 2010

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