RMBS

  • Ocwen settlement 'credit neutral'

    Ocwen Financial's recent US$150m settlement with the NYDFS (SCI 23 December 2014) is credit neutral for RMBS transactions that the firm services, says Moody's. The firm's servicing is expected to improve as a result of the settlement's conditions, while servicing costs may increase and transactions with high New York state concentration could face longer foreclosure timelines, thus reducing recoveries on .......

    News Round-up 7 January 2015

  • Variations in loan mod losses

    US RMBS servicers are not uniformly reporting losses associated with principal forbearance loan modifications, according to Fitch. The agency says the timing of realised loss reporting can vary, often being reported at the time of the modification, but sometimes at the time of liquidation.

    Fitch estimates that roughly 1,500,000 private label RMBS loans were modified between June 2009 and June .......

    News Round-up 7 January 2015

  • Euro ABS/MBS picks up positively

    Activity in the European ABS/MBS secondary market is finally beginning to pick up with a slightly positive tone emerging today.

    "It's been relatively quiet since the New Year, but it was a little busier yesterday," says one trader. "We've been somewhat insulated from the broader market volatility over the last few days, but ABS spreads have been softer."

    That looks .......

    SCIWire 7 January 2015

  • NCUA files Wells Fargo suit

    The NCUA has filed suit in federal court against Wells Fargo, alleging the bank violated state and federal laws by failing to fulfil its duties as trustee for 27 RMBS trusts. The agency is suing in its capacity as liquidating agent for five failed corporate credit unions and has previously filed suit against several other trustees (SCI passim).

    The five .......

    Job Swaps 24 December 2014

  • Hiring logjam?

    Waiting game leaves recruitment on hold

    Recruitment in the structured finance space remains somewhat stagnant. While market players await regulatory clarity in the US, positive sentiment in Europe is yet to translate into increased hiring activity.

    The European securitisation market has provided a mixture of both disappointment and rational caution in terms of hiring trends, according to one London-based headhunter. "The market may not have picked .......

    News Analysis 24 December 2014

  • US RMBS looks for a spark

    The US non-agency RMBS market is quiet today, but could still spark back into life despite year-end looming.

    "We've been pretty quiet yesterday and today, even with today's economic news," says one trader. "The revision upwards of Q3 GDP has driven activity in broader markets and pulled high yield tighter, but RMBS is not seeing a major impact."

    A small .......

    SCIWire 23 December 2014

  • Agency updates Japan RMBS methodology

    S&P has updated its methodology and assumptions for rating Japanese RMBS transactions. The agency's new criteria aims to increase the comparability of RMBS ratings globally and across sectors.

    The criteria will become effective as of 5 January 2015 for all new and existing ratings on Japanese RMBS, including securitisations of condominium investment loans and apartment loans. Outstanding, rated Japanese RMBS .......

    News Round-up 23 December 2014

  • Ocwen settles NY charges

    Ocwen Financial has reached a settlement with the NYDFS to address its violations of a consent order issued by the regulator in 2012, as well as various violations of its agreement with the regulator in connection with its purchase of Litton Loan Servicing in 2011. There should be no direct impact on non-agency RMBS but certain ABS payments could be accelerated.

    News 23 December 2014

  • Texas house prices surge

    Texas has surpassed California and now has the most overvalued housing market in the US, says Fitch. However, falling energy prices are likely to put pressure on house prices.

    After largely avoiding the excesses and downsides of the last housing boom, significant recent growth has made Fitch cautious on the Texan housing market. The agency says that fundamentals do not .......

    News Round-up 22 December 2014

  • RMBS lowered on sovereign downgrade

    S&P has lowered its credit ratings on 84 tranches in 47 Italian RMBS transactions. This follows the rating agency lowering its unsolicited long- and short-term sovereign credit ratings on the country.

    Following the sovereign downgrade, S&P has based its subsequent rating actions in these Italian RMBS transactions on the application of its updated criteria for rating single-jurisdiction securitisations above the .......

    News Round-up 22 December 2014

  • GSE vet joins Redwood

    Redwood Trust has added Karen Pallotta to its board of directors. She was at Fannie Mae for more than 20 years until her retirement in 2011.

    Pallotta served in various roles at the GSE, most recently as evp of its single family credit guaranty business. She was directly responsible for Fannie Mae's single family mortgage business, comprising more than US$2.5trn .......

    Job Swaps 22 December 2014

  • Portfolio repurchase 'credit positive'

    Moody's believes that Catalunya Banc's repurchase of problematic Spanish mortgage loan portfolios from seven securitisations it originated and retained is credit positive for the transactions because it has improved the credit quality of the underlying collateral pools and increased available credit enhancement to some notes. The bank repurchased 6,208 mortgages in the amount of €762.83m in June ahead of a .......

    News Round-up 19 December 2014

  • US RMBS eases off

    The US non-agency RMBS market remains busy by December standards, but even here there is sense of a market easing off for the year.

    There is $600m scheduled on BWIC for today, matching the volumes seen over the last few days, but expectations are volumes will now begin to drop. "Like some other markets our BWICs are currently driven by .......

    SCIWire 18 December 2014

  • Further STACR risk transferred

    Freddie Mac has obtained a number of insurance policies under its Agency Credit Insurance Structure (ACIS), which has attracted commitments of private capital from non-mortgage guaranty insurers and reinsurers. The policies, underwritten by a panel of insurers and reinsurers, cover up to a combined maximum of approximately US$155m of losses for a portion of the credit risk associated with a .......

    News Round-up 18 December 2014

  • Trustees targeted in NCUA suit

    The NCUA has filed suit in federal court against US Bank and Bank of America, alleging the banks violated state and federal laws by failing to fulfill their duties as trustees for 99 RMBS trusts. The agency's suit seeks damages to be determined at trial.

    Five corporate credit unions - US Central, WesCorp, Members United, Southwest and Constitution - purchased .......

    News Round-up 18 December 2014

  • Borrower attributes drive loss variability

    Freddie Mac's recently disclosed loan-level loss data reveal that loss severities on liquidated Freddie Mac mortgages are higher than those on prime jumbo and lower than those on Alt-A non-agency loans, according to Fitch. The differences can be attributed to specific borrower attributes, such as property values, and the presence of mortgage insurance.

    Freddie Mac last month enhanced its single .......

    News Round-up 18 December 2014

  • Euro ABS/MBS close to shut down for the year

    The European ABS/MBS secondary market has all but shut down for year-end as from today.

    "This look like it's pretty much it for the year," says one trader. "Spreads haven't moved this morning, but that's theoretical anyway as there has been no visible trading."

    A few very small clips in recently popular names are understood to have changed hands, but .......

    SCIWire 18 December 2014

  • ESAIL restructuring inked

    Fitch has withdrawn its ratings on Eurosail-UK 2007-4BL's class A3a, A3c and B1a notes and assigned triple-A, double-A, double-A minus and triple-B plus ratings to the new class A3, A4, A5 and B1a notes. The agency has also upgraded the class A2a, C1a and D1a notes and affirmed the class E1c, following the restructuring of the transaction.

    Following the bankruptcy .......

    News Round-up 17 December 2014

  • Eminent domain move welcomed

    SIFMA has welcomed the US government's new spending bill, which contains a provision preventing the federal government from supporting state and local efforts to use eminent domain to acquire mortgages. The association encourages communities considering this form of eminent domain to reconsider and work to find alternatives that help homeowners and protect taxpayers and investors.

    "SIFMA applauds Congress and the .......

    News Round-up 17 December 2014

  • Stable outlook for APAC

    Fitch expects the ratings and asset sector performance of Asia-Pacific structured finance (SF) transactions to remain stable over the course of 2015. Most public long-term ratings for the sector are likely to remain at their current level throughout next year, largely similar to the situation in 2014. Of the 12 outlooks that were not stable at end-3Q14, six were positive .......

    News Round-up 17 December 2014

  • US RMBS remains active

    Monday's quiet US non-agency RMBS session threatened to set the tone for a slow week, but bid-list activity picked up sharply yesterday across nearly all collateral segments to inject life back into the market. Tuesday's session saw almost US$750m of BWIC volume, with SCI's PriceABS data capturing a variety of pre-crisis names.

    The contrast between the .......

    Market Reports 17 December 2014
×