RMBS

  • Granite hit in counterparty criteria action

    S&P has lowered its credit ratings on 91 tranches from Northern Rock's Granite UK RMBS master trust. At the same time, the agency affirmed its ratings on 76 tranches and withdrew ratings on an additional six tranches. The downgrades reflect the application of S&P's 2010 counterparty criteria for structured finance transactions.

    The agency placed the senior classes of notes on .......

    News Round-up 14 July 2011

  • RMBS recovery service launched

    Glass, Lewis & Co has launched a new service designed to help institutional investors and plan sponsors recover their losses on private-label RMBS. Pension funds and institutional investors are believed to have lost more than US$750bn over the past five years.

    "Many of our 950 institutional investor clients are participants in the US RMBS market," comments Katherine Rabin, ceo of .......

    News Round-up 14 July 2011

  • Correspondent lending group expands

    PennyMac has added Jim Follette and Kim Nichols to its correspondent lending group.

    Follette has been named md, correspondent fulfillment, and will help manage the firm's correspondent loan acquisition platform. This includes all aspects of acquisition workflow, loan level credit and appraisal. He joins PennyMac from Bank of America, where he most recently served as svp for Bank of America .......

    Job Swaps 12 July 2011

  • GSE prepayment data integrated

    Mortgage Maxx GSE prepayment data is now available on the 1010data platform. The company says it selected 1010data because it offers the most robust ad-hoc analysis tools and is trusted by its existing customer base. In addition, working with 1010data will allow the firm to grow more rapidly by enabling Mortgage Maxx AFS report data to be accessed via the .......

    News Round-up 12 July 2011

  • RMBS criteria updated

    Fitch has published an updated US RMBS sector-specific criteria report that outlines the framework used to monitor and analyse outstanding transactions for potential rating changes. It has also updated its US RMBS cashflow analysis criteria report.

    The sole change from the previously published sector-specific criteria involves increased credit enhancement and rating caps for pools that have small remaining loan counts .......

    News Round-up 11 July 2011

  • Treasury updates on MBS wind-down

    The US Treasury has provided an update on the continued orderly wind-down of its agency MBS portfolio. The remaining amount of principal outstanding in its MBS portfolio is US$94.5bn.

    During the month of June, taxpayers received an additional US$12.7bn in proceeds from this investment through sales by Treasury with a market value of US$10.6bn and principal and interest payments of .......

    News Round-up 7 July 2011

  • Pension funds file Countrywide objections

    A group of public pension funds that invested in Countrywide RMBS have filed a petition with the Supreme Court of the State of New York to intervene in the Bank of America/Countrywide settlement proceedings and take discovery on the fairness of the proposed US$8.5bn agreement. This follows the filing of objections to the settlement by the Walnut Place investor group .......

    News Round-up 7 July 2011

  • Japanese origination review underway

    Moody's is reviewing Japanese mortgage loan originations, with the aim of preventing unexpected loss in the securitised pools. A number of loans in some Japanese RMBS monitored by the agency have either become delinquent or default very shortly after origination.

    The review comprises a qualitative examination of the effects of originator policies and procedures on loan performance. It is divided .......

    News Round-up 7 July 2011

  • Updated NHG criteria rolled out

    Fitch has updated its criteria for rating RMBS transactions backed by the Nationale Hypotheek Garantie (NHG). As a result of the updated criteria, the agency has maintained all 50 outstanding notes of the 15 NHG-backed Dutch RMBS it rates on rating watch negative (RWN).

    Issuers will have the opportunity to indicate whether they intend to make any amendments to the .......

    News Round-up 6 July 2011

  • Op risk vet recruited

    Allonhill has recruited Jim Sadler as md of business process management and analytics. He is charged with developing custom analytics to measure and report the firm's performance and help establish a new client-facing implementation team.

    Sadler brings more than 20 years of operational risk management, process management and financial modeling experience to Allonhill. Most recently, he served as director of .......

    Job Swaps 4 July 2011

  • Some Countrywide RMBS to see ratings uplift

    Fitch expects Bank of America's recently announced settlement of mortgage repurchase and servicing claims (SCI 29 June) to positively affect the ratings of approximately 10% of Fitch-rated US RMBS bonds in the affected legacy Countrywide trusts. In addition, payouts from the settlement in the short term and improved servicing practices over the longer term are likely to further improve recovery .......

    News Round-up 1 July 2011

  • US RMBS criteria updated

    Fitch has updated three criteria reports designed to better gauge credit risk on new issue US RMBS transactions. The agency confirms that originator reviews, loan-level due diligence results and the quality of representations and warranties to a transaction are key elements of its analytical process.

    Each of these factors accounts for key risks that are not always apparent in the .......

    News Round-up 1 July 2011

  • RMBS sales manager added

    Tejas Securities Group has appointed Samir Shah as md and co-sales manager of structured products. The addition reinforces the firm's sales and trading activity in mortgage-related structured products.

    Shah will be product manager for higher-grade RMBS and joins John Randolph - who leads efforts in ABS, distressed RMBS and other structured products - and Tim Martin, who specialises in subordinate .......

    Job Swaps 30 June 2011

  • Distressed MBS fund launched

    UCM Partners has launched the UCM MIDAS Fund, with US$10m in assets under management. The fund is designed to capitalise on relative value opportunities in the RMBS and other securitised debt markets, including CMBS and ABS. Its target return is currently 25%-35%.

    The fund is managed by UCM Partners cio Jay Menozzi and portfolio managers Boris Peresechensky and Vesta Marks. .......

    News Round-up 30 June 2011

  • Countrywide servicing settlement reached

    22 institutional investors represented by Gibbs & Bruns have announced a settlement with Bank of America and Countrywide regarding repurchase and mortgage servicing claims on 530 Countrywide-issued RMBS, for which BNY Mellon serves as the trustee. The settlement, which is subject to court approval, involves Bank of America and/or Countrywide paying US$8.5bn to settle the claims owned by these trusts.

    Job Swaps 29 June 2011

  • Revised fails charge recommendations issued

    The US Treasury Market Practices Group (TMPG) has published revised fails charge recommendations for the agency debt and agency MBS markets based on feedback it received on its 29 April proposal for fails charge recommendations (SCI passim). For the agency MBS market, the recommended trading practice has been modified slightly from the earlier proposal.

    The revised recommendation consists of a .......

    News Round-up 29 June 2011

  • Policyholder group wins appeal

    The New York State Court of Appeals in Albany has reinstated the bank policyholder group's US$5bn fraudulent conveyance and breach of contract lawsuit against MBIA Inc (SCI passim).

    The Court's written ruling notes that the New York State Insurance Department (NYID) approved the restructuring of MBIA Insurance in 2009 without giving policyholders any notice or opportunity to be heard. The .......

    Job Swaps 28 June 2011

  • Graphite tender offer launched

    Northern Rock has launched a tender offer for eight tranches of Graphite Mortgages series 2006-1. The minimum purchase price ranges from 95% to 30% of par value for the class A+ to class E notes.

    Northern Rock had previously announced that it has currently no intention to exercise its right to terminate the credit default swap with KfW relating to .......

    News Round-up 27 June 2011

  • Subprime fraud charges settled

    Morgan Keegan & Company and Morgan Asset Management have agreed to pay US$200m to settle fraud charges, brought by the SEC, state regulators and FINRA, related to subprime MBS. Two Morgan Keegan employees also agreed to pay penalties for their alleged misconduct, including one who is now barred from the securities industry.

    The Memphis-based firms, former portfolio manager James Kelsoe .......

    Job Swaps 23 June 2011

  • Mortgage REIT index launched

    Pine River Capital Management has launched the Pine River Mortgage REIT Index. The index aims to provide a way to track the sector performance of publicly traded REITs, whose principal business consists of originating, servicing or investing in residential mortgage interests, including RMBS.

    The index uses a modified market capitalisation weighted methodology. Index components are reviewed quarterly for eligibility and index .......

    News Round-up 23 June 2011

  • NCUA files first misrepresentation suits

    The National Credit Union Administration has filed suits against JPMorgan and RBS, alleging violations of federal and state securities laws and misrepresentations in the sale of RMBS. Additional law suits may follow in order to recover losses from the purchase of securities that caused the failures of five large wholesale credit unions.

    As liquidating agent for the failed corporate credit .......

    Job Swaps 21 June 2011
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