RMBS

  • Euro price gains slowing

    European BWIC volumes for the first month of 2013 stand at €2.4bn, according to Deutsche Bank figures. This level is some 122% higher than for the same period last year, with CLOs (accounting for €600m of the volume) and CMBS (€438m) featuring heavily.

    So far this paper has been readily absorbed by the market, but analysts at the bank note .......

    Market Reports 1 February 2013

  • Subprime focus for RMBS bid-lists

    Overall US non-agency RMBS BWIC volume picked up to a moderate level yesterday, as market participants began returning from the ASF conference. The focus was on the subprime sector, with a large list of senior paper trading early in the session.

    Among the subprime bonds circulating in the secondary market yesterday was SASC 2006-WF3 M1. Illustrating the elevated prices currently .......

    News Round-up 31 January 2013

  • Optimism emerges on UK arrears

    Moody's expects mortgage arrears across UK RMBS to marginally reduce in 2013 from their current level of 1.8%. Lenders surveyed have not observed the emergence of any new payment problem trends and are confident that arrears levels would not increase in the absence of large shocks to unemployment and interest rates. Although post-crisis originations continue to perform better, older vintages .......

    News Round-up 31 January 2013

  • Rallying call

    Price correction warning for non-agency RMBS

    The US non-agency RMBS market rallied significantly in 2012, providing double-digit returns for many. However, as investors continue to enter the sector as a play on the housing recovery, profit-taking is expected to prompt a price correction in the near future.

    The one-year return for 2012 across the AAA sub-indices of the Markit ABX 2006-1, 2006-2, 2007-1 and 2007-2 series .......

    News Analysis 30 January 2013

  • Agency RMBS under pressure?

    ABS analysts at Bank of America Merrill Lynch suggest that a rotation out of bonds into equities will likely be the dominant story for 2013, as markets in the US transition from deflation and deleveraging to a normalisation of growth, rates and risk appetite. Moreover, the macro theme is expected to become less dominant, meaning that security selection should trump .......

    News 30 January 2013

  • Stable performance predicted for South Africa

    Fitch expects South African structured finance asset performance to be stable in 2013. The low interest environment is supporting borrowers and helping to balance downside pressure from the economic slowdown, the agency notes.

    "This support is bolstered by the availability of credit to consumers and businesses, stemming from a generally sound financial system. These factors translate into a stable outlook .......

    News Round-up 30 January 2013

  • Mortgage vet moves on

    Stonegate Mortgage Corporation has recruited Eric Scholtz as evp of structured finance. He will report to Dan Bettenburg, president of the firm.

    Scholtz has over 20 years' experience in the structuring, pricing and trading of mortgage- and asset-backed securities. Prior to joining Stonegate Mortgage, he served in a number of senior executive positions at GMAC RFC for more than 15 .......

    Job Swaps 30 January 2013

  • Eminent domain rejected

    The San Bernardino County Homeownership Protection Program Joint Powers Authority Board last week rejected the use of eminent domain to acquire underwater mortgages to help struggling homeowners. The proposal was highly controversial and received stiff opposition from many in the mortgage and finance industries (SCI passim).

    Very few local homeowners and other stakeholders had expressed support for the use of .......

    News Round-up 29 January 2013

  • ResCap settles with Fannie Mae

    Residential Capital has agreed to pay Fannie Mae US$298m to end its objection to the sale of ResCap's mortgage servicing rights to Ocwen. Of the payment, US$33m is debt owed by ResCap to Fannie Mae, while the remaining US$265m is compensation for any losses that the GSE may incur due to the bankruptcy of ResCap.

    The US$265m resolves all pending .......

    Job Swaps 29 January 2013

  • GE lawsuit settled

    The FHFA has voluntarily dismissed its lawsuit against General Electric, resulting in the first settlement to be agreed of the 17 lawsuits that the agency filed as conservator for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac relating to losses on more than US$200bn in RMBS (SCI passim). Terms of the settlement were not made public. The case was brought in the US .......

    Job Swaps 29 January 2013

  • RMBS pro charged with fraud

    The US SEC has charged ex-Jefferies md Jesse Litvak with RMBS fraud. He has been arrested after a federal grand jury sitting in New Haven also returned a 16-count indictment charging him with securities fraud, TARP fraud and making false statements to the government.

    The SEC charges Litvak with lying about the price at which Jefferies had bought an RMBS .......

    Job Swaps 29 January 2013

  • RMBS flurry in bumper session

    Yesterday proved to be a bumper session for the secondary markets - as shown by SCI's PriceABS data, which reached a single-session record of 700-plus line items. Activity was seen across the board, with US RMBS alone contributing over US$3bn of BWIC volume.

    Interactive Data figures put Thursday's US RMBS non-agency BWIC volume at US$2.56bn. "Overall BWIC volume .......

    Market Reports 25 January 2013

  • RMBS assessment service launched

    CoreLogic has introduced CoreLogic Bond Tracker, a bond assessment service for non-agency RMBS. The service offers granular, dynamic and automated analyses of security holdings and underlying collateral. It incorporates a wide range of risk factors, including property value changes and other market-impacting events.

    Specifically, CoreLogic Bond Tracker provides credit assessments of non-agency RMBS across product type, vintage and tranche position, .......

    News Round-up 25 January 2013

  • US$1bn servicer acquisition announced

    Starwood Property Trust and Starwood Capital Group have entered into a definitive agreement to acquire LNR Property for US$1.05bn in cash. The acquisition is expected to close during 2Q13 and will significantly expand Starwood Property Trust's product offerings and underwriting capabilities.

    For US$856m, Starwood Property Trust will acquire: LNR's US special servicing business, which is the biggest in the country; .......

    Job Swaps 25 January 2013

  • The big picture

    Christopher Long, president at Palmer Square Capital Management, answers SCI's questions

    Q: How and when did Palmer Square Capital Management become involved in the structured finance markets?
    A:     Palmer Square was really set up in 2009 to take advantage of opportunities within credit, allowing us to exploit many opportunities within structured credit. Fountain Capital Management, which we recently acquired a majority interest in (SCI 9 January), has .......

    The Structured Credit Interview 24 January 2013

  • Mortgage market index debuts

    Fitch has begun publishing a new quarterly mortgage market index, which measures the percentage of loans that are seriously delinquent among US private label securitised mortgage loans. The aim is to highlight performance trends in legacy and new issue RMBS, house price conditions and mortgage market developments.

    Fitch's 60+ day delinquency index improved to 28.6% by end-4Q12, compared with 30.6% .......

    News Round-up 23 January 2013

  • Regulatory change could spur Aussie issuance

    Regulatory changes could have a significant impact on Australian structured finance issuance in 2013, Fitch says. Specifically, the potential revision of Prudential Standard APS120 would have a direct impact on issuance levels by determining the capital treatment of securitisations and potentially opening up new issuance structures.

    A draft paper on APS120 is expected early this year. The possible changes mooted .......

    News Round-up 23 January 2013

  • False ratings claims case settled

    Egan-Jones Ratings Company (EJR) and its president Sean Egan have agreed to settle charges which were brought by the US SEC last year (SCI 25 April 2012), without accepting or denying the claims. The SEC claimed EJR and Egan made wilful misstatements and omissions when registering to become an NRSRO for ABS.

    EJR and Egan have consented to an SEC .......

    Job Swaps 23 January 2013

  • More foreclosure settlements reached

    Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley have reached agreements in principle with the Federal Reserve Board to pay US$557m to help mortgage borrowers. The agreements are similar to those announced two weeks ago between 10 servicers and the OCC and Fed (SCI 9 January).

    Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley had been subject to enforcement actions for deficient practices in mortgage loan .......

    Job Swaps 23 January 2013

  • Rental 'equity' structures critiqued

    A legal structure that potential issuers have proposed for transactions backed by cashflows from single-family rental properties poses substantial credit risks, according to Moody's. In the so-called 'equity' structure - which differs from the legal structure for most ABS - investors will not have the benefit of a direct lien on the underlying collateral. Instead, these structures provide investors with .......

    News Round-up 21 January 2013

  • Assured wraps targeted

    Moody's has downgraded the ratings of 225 classes of US structured finance securities wrapped by Assured Guaranty Municipal Corp (AGM), Assured Guaranty Corp (AGC) and their affiliated insurance operating companies. The affected securities include certain RMBS, ABS, structured notes and Trups CDOs.

    The action is solely driven by the agency's downgrade of the insurer's insurance financial strength (IFS) ratings (SCI .......

    News Round-up 21 January 2013
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