RMBS
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Regulatory call exercised for Calico
The Co-operative Bank last week announced a regulatory call of its Calico Finance Number One capital relief trade. The call was executed, after UK PRA approval, as part of the bank's plans to improve its capital position.
The Co-operative Bank received confirmation from the PRA that the Calico transaction no longer achieves significant risk transfer (SRT) to third parties within .......
News Analysis 1 August 2017
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Reserving practices in the spotlight again
An additional 10 legacy US non-agency RMBS were called in July, a month after Wells Fargo withheld over US$90m in cashflow across 20 called transactions (SCI 3 July). While the results this time around appear to be more investor-friendly, uncertainty remains over trustee reserving practices.
Morgan Stanley RMBS strategists estimate that only six of the deals that were called last .......
News 1 August 2017
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Job swaps round-up - 28 July
North America
Ashurst is cutting its CLO practice because it sees it as "less relevant" to its global structured finance practice. It says "it will not be replacing the CLO team," many of whom have moved to Chapman and Cutler. The five partners joining Chapman and Cutler are Pat Quill, David Nirenberg, Steve Kopp, Doug Bird and Tom Glushko.
Hunt .......
Job Swaps 28 July 2017
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Synthetic mortgage 'game changer' awaited
The inclusion of mortgages in leverage ratio calculations and lower risk weights for the asset are at present limiting the issuance of synthetic RMBS. Indeed, capital relief trade players are awaiting the EBA's forthcoming risk transfer guidelines to introduce regulatory consistency and clarity over the future of the product.
European risk transfer transactions tend to reference corporate assets, due to .......
News Analysis 28 July 2017
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Self-cert 'drafting error' unlikely to stand
A recent amendment to Article 17 of the new European securitisation regulations would ban self-certified mortgages from all new securitisations, sparking concern about the impact this might have on the European RMBS sector. However, the clause appears to be a drafting error and is expected to be corrected before the final rules are implemented.
Rob Ford, partner and portfolio manager .......
News Analysis 27 July 2017
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Euro secondary staves off summer
The European securitisation secondary market has not yet quite shutdown for summer with a pick-up in activity seen yesterday.
For the first time in a while more than minimal secondary activity was seen across ABS/MBS sectors yesterday. A mixture of the slowing primary market and final pre-August positioning drove increased trading from both investors and the Street.
The session saw a flurry .......
SCIWire 27 July 2017
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Flagstar preps prime RMBS
Flagstar Bank is in the market with an RMBS which exhibits a unique servicing structure (see SCI's deal pipeline). Flagstar Mortgage Trust 2017-1 is Flagstar's first issuance since the financial crisis and marks a departure from previous offerings as it is backed by prime mortgage loans.
Fitch and Moody's both note that Flagstar's underwriting has improved since its previous .......
News 25 July 2017
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Bond classification trends eyed
Banks have favoured adding hold to maturity (HTM) bonds to their portfolios in recent years. However, new FASB accounting rules are set to allow prepayable assets to qualify for hedge accounting, which could see bank demand increase for available for sale (AFS) agency RMBS and CMBS securities.
Strong deposit inflows have resulted in increased bank demand for both HTM and .......
News 24 July 2017
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Job swaps round-up - 21 July
Acquisitions
Job Swaps 21 July 2017
BGC Partners has acquired commercial real estate finance company Berkeley Point Financial for US$875m, subject to certain adjustments at closing. Berkeley Point focuses on the origination and sale of multifamily and other CRE loans through government-sponsored and government-funded loan programmes, as well as the servicing of CRE loans, including those it originates. The company is set to become part of .......
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Revolving RMBS launched
Banca Popolare di Cividale has closed a revolving Italian RMBS. Civitas SPV Series 2017-1 issued an initial €258.4m of notes, which can increase up to €600m during the transaction's three-year ramp-up period.
The deal is backed by 3,059 Italian first-lien residential mortgages originated and sold by BP Cividale. The average balance is €82,678 and the proportion of loans with an .......
News 21 July 2017
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Robo-advisors could boost RMBS quality
Robo-advisors could improve consumer loan and mortgage affordability and strengthen pool quality in associated securitisations. Moody's suggests that by enabling consumers to switch to a lower-rate mortgage more easily, robo-advisors could improve mortgage prepayments and therefore boost credit enhancement for prime UK RMBS transactions.
Moody's indicates that robo-advisors could become challengers to traditional intermediaries in the UK consumer loan and .......
News 19 July 2017
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'Brighter year' for securitisation recruitment
The structured finance industry has seen one of its best years in terms of hiring since the financial crisis, according to recruiters. While ABS was the standout sector for recruitment in the US in 1H17, CLO hiring activity continued to be strong in Europe.
One headhunter believes that 2017 has been particularly buoyant for the UK and Europe. "In various .......
News Analysis 19 July 2017
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UK MPL loans in triple-A RMBS
The £290m Twin Bridges 2017-1 RMBS which priced last week represents the first time that loans from a non-US marketplace lender have been used for a triple-A rated securitisation. While the deal largely securitises loans made by Paratus, it also includes loans from marketplace lender Landbay.
UniCredit analysts note that the A tranche priced in line with initial price talk .......
News 18 July 2017
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Atypical Dutch RMBS prepped
RNHB is in the market with an unusual Dutch RMBS backed by owner-occupied and buy-to-let mortgage loans secured by residential, mixed-use and commercial properties. Dubbed Dutch Property Finance 2017-1, the €1.5bn transaction is unique in that borrowers are divided into risk groups and are obliged to share servicing of the debt across the risk group.
The preliminary collateral pool comprises .......
News 17 July 2017
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Job swaps round-up - 14 July
North America
Mortgage Capital Trading has hired Bill Berliner to the newly created role of director of analytics. He was previously mortgage community manager at Thomson Reuters.
BlueMountain Capital Management has hired Lee Kempler as coo for investments. He was previously md at Blackrock.
FS Investments has hired Michael Carter as evp, head of strategy. He will be based in .......
Job Swaps 14 July 2017
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Ratings reviewed for payment disruption risk
Fitch and Moody's have placed a slew of US RMBS classes on rating watch negative, after Wells Fargo withheld trust funds to reserve against future expenses it may incur to defend itself against litigation (SCI 3 July). The actions are primarily due to the trustee's allocation of losses following transaction clean-up calls, which resulted in noteholders failing to receive expected .......
News 13 July 2017
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Job swaps round-up - 7 July
North America
Mayer Brown has hired Jay Kallas as counsel in its Chicago office, focusing on structured insurance and reinsurance transactions. He was previously counsel at Drinker Biddle & Reath.
Cadwalader has hired Peter Morreale as partner in the capital markets team in the Washington, DC office. He was previously at Goldman Sachs, where he was md and associate general .......
Job Swaps 7 July 2017
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BTL refinancing risk highlighted
Tighter policy guidance is influencing the range of products that UK buy-to-let mortgage lenders are offering. Indeed, some lenders appear to be exploiting the differences in regulatory lending policies across mortgage products - which could lead to unintended risks within BTL RMBS, according to DBRS.
Following changes in January to PRA guidance for affordability testing of UK BTL borrowers, lenders .......
News 5 July 2017
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Reserve uncertainty weighs on legacy RMBS
It emerged last week that Wells Fargo withheld over US$90m in cashflow across 20 Bank of America-originated legacy non-agency RMBS, which resulted in losses across the capital structure. The move has introduced uncertainty due to legal complications to the sector, unrelated to ongoing collateral performance.
Wells Fargo invoked its right as trustee to hold back funds to cover legal costs, .......
News 3 July 2017
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Subprime and non-QM compared
Non-qualified mortgages (non-QM) are not equivalent to subprime mortgages made during the pre-crisis era and do not share the same characteristics, Morningstar comments. The rating agency adds that the QM designation outlined by the CFPB three years ago does not necessarily equate to strong credit quality and - conversely - non-QM mortgages do not necessarily equate to excessive risk.
Unlike .......
News 30 June 2017
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Job swaps round-up - 30 June
North America
Alexander Popov has joined Carlyle Group as md to lead the credit opportunities business within the firm's global credit platform. Popov was previously md with HPS Investment Partners, formerly known as Highbridge Principal Strategies, and before that was svp at Oaktree Capital Management.
Funding Circle has hired Joanna Karger as US head of capital markets. She has extensive .......
Job Swaps 30 June 2017