Asset Securitization Report articles from July 2008

Asset Securitization Report archives from July 2008

Whispers.
July 7, 2008... Noel Kirnon, former head of global structured finance at Moody's Investors Service, has left the rating agency. While a search for a permanent head is underway, Andy Kimball, who is chief credit officer at Moody's, is replacing Kirnon in the...

Europe Readies for a Lot More Information.
July 7, 2008... Last week nine European trade groups released 10 industry initiatives to make the securitization market more transparent. The move follows the European Council of Finance Ministers' (Ecofin) call in its October 2007 roadmap to "enhance...

Auto Deals Up Despite Slow 1H08 for ABS Managers.
July 7, 2008... Despite a steadier pace of issuance in the second quarter for the consumer ABS market, the first half of 2008 finished significantly behind last year's totals. Although overall volume was lackluster, issuance in the credit card sector...

Issuance Slump Continues to Pressure CDO Managers.
July 7, 2008... CLOs continued to squeak out new issuance in the second quarter, making them the only corner of the U.S. CDO market to do so. The good news is that, of the new CLO deals to hit the market, several were structured from fresh loan assets - rather...

Fitch Releases New Rating Proposals.(Fitch Inc. (New York, New York))
July 7, 2008... Fitch Ratings released proposed indicators and ratings that it believes should add value to existing structured finance ratings. In its most recent release, Fitch focused on the separate complementary indicators that can be offered to...

Industrias Penoles Retires Silver Notes: The mining company follows the lead of other commodities producers whittling down their presence in future flows.
July 7, 2008... The world's largest primary silver producer, Industrias Penoles, announced last week that it had pre-paid a 12-year structured bond issued in 1997 for $380 million. The Mexican company retired the issue using funds from a two-tranche syndicated...

New U.K. Covered Bond Regime Uncovered.
July 7, 2008... A New Legislative Regime for U.K. Covered Bonds In March of this year the U.K.'s Regulated Covered Bond Regulations 2008 came into force. Under the new regulations, U.K. credit institutions will be able to issue covered bonds complying with...

A New Direction for French Securitization Framework.
July 7, 2008... The amendment of the legal framework for French SPVs is expected to significantly impact the structuring landscape of French securitizations, making transactions backed by higher yields - from the easier to the more complex - less difficult to...

Getting The Mix Right: Shariah-Compliant ABS Provide Ingredients for Lively Debate.
July 7, 2008... Over the past two years, the Islamic securitization market has grown dramatically, although its growth faces serious roadblocks if the legal issues surrounding how to achieve a true sale are not clarified. The main hindrance goes back to...

RMBS Market's Slow Pace Unchanged by Fed Initiatives: Government assistance is no match for the sector's gloomy outlook and dwindling volume.
July 7, 2008... The RMBS market reported another paltry quarter, wrapping up a dismal first half for new issuance despite both local and Federal loss-mitigation initiatives. Total volume clocked in at $117.3 billion in 209 deals for 1H08 compared with...

Whispers.
July 14, 2008... Bank of America formed a new leadership structure within its corporate and investment bank. Brian Moynihan, president of global wealth and investment management, appointed four leaders to his team: George Ellison, global structured products and...

Unbundling the Mixed Bag.
July 14, 2008... As deal flow has fallen silent in the subprime mortgage and CDO markets, forecasts that ABS is in its death throes have grown louder and more confident. The logic isn't far-fetched; after all, over the past few years players breathlessly...

Market Jitters Put ABS Issuance on Hold: GSE troubles heighten fears in an already stalled ABS market.
July 14, 2008... ABS market trading remained woefully slow last week, according to traders, who said they expected this pace to continue at least until Labor Day. While post-July 4 primary and secondary market activity is usually slow, this particular...

Opportunities for U.S. Investors in the Canadian Securitization Market.
July 14, 2008... For the first time since the Canadian securitization market came into existence, issuers are able to sell asset-backed notes to U.S. investors without dealing with withholding tax issues for non-exempt transactions. Elimination of withholding...

Mortgage-Backeds Finally See a Rally: Government initiatives boost demand from various types of mortgage investors.
July 14, 2008... Last week got off to a roller-coaster ride in the first two days of trading following the long holiday weekend. Monday experienced a strong flight-to-quality bid prompted in part by concerns regarding the GSEs. Contributing to this was a...

Still the Same Story for Euro Primary Market: Retained activity dominates issuance as doubts mount over the ECB's offer to help.
July 14, 2008... The European primary market remained as slow as ever last week. Deals continue to be originated for central bank repo collateral, and there is no indication of when primary market activity will pick up again, market analysts said. Almost...

KIT Finance Closes Second RMBS in Dour Times.
July 14, 2008... When the market was in good shape, it drew a parade of Russian lenders keen to finance their brisk clip of mortgage origination. But KIT Finance, formerly known as CIT Finance, did not join them, having started its mortgage business only in...

Bradford & Bingley Required to Raise Fresh Capital.
July 14, 2008... Moody's Investors Service last week downgraded U.K. mortgage lender Bradford & Bingley's long-term ratings. The downgrade was based on the deteriorating asset quality on the bank's balance sheet, the obligation to continue purchasing...

European ABCP Improving, Fitch says.(asset backed commercial paper)(Brief article)
July 14, 2008... Fitch Ratings said last week that the European ABCP market is bottoming out. Recent figures suggest that the worst of the ABCP market contraction is over. There are even signs that some multiseller programs are continuing to originate new...

Hertz Debuts European Deal.
July 14, 2008... Hertz is slated to issue what will be its first securitization deal outside of the U.S. The 1.5 billion ($2.4 billion) International Fleet Financing 1 will be a multi-jurisdictional transaction covering Australia, France, Italy and the...

Mexican Issuance Down but Hardly Out.
July 14, 2008... Mexico plowed forward in June, with about Ps11.2 billion ($1.09 billion) in structured finance issuance, as measured by local shop IXE. That was only a 6% drop from the Ps11.9 billion placed in the same month last year, a clear sign that...

Are Rating Agencies Covering Up Their Oversights?
July 14, 2008... The recent departure of Noel Kirnon, global head of structured finance at Moody's Investors Service, is the latest in a series of prominent managerial changes at the rating agency. It also serves as another demonstration of the ongoing and...

WHISPERS.
July 21, 2008... PACIFIC INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT CO. (Pimco) recently poached Brigitte Posch, a veteran of Latin American ABS, from her post as head of Latin American securitizations at Deutsche Bank. Jibing with the trend of i-bankers crossing to the buy-side,...

The GSEs' Global Reach.
July 21, 2008... Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson was right when he said that the GSEs' "continued strength is important to maintaining the confidence and stability in our financial system and our financial markets," since their debt is held by financial...

Market Moves to Restore Liquidity in Slow Week :GSE issues hover over a nervous market, slowing auto and credit card issuance.
July 21, 2008... Primary issuance and secondary trading remained light last week as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac uncertainties continued to weigh on the ABS market's mood. This is despite U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson's rescue plan that will, in essence,...

LURC Provides Innovative Approach to Restoration Bonds.(Louisiana Utilities Restoration Corp.)
July 21, 2008... In a market where securitization deals are few and far between and where creative structures have taken a back seat to plain vanilla transactions, the Louisiana Utilities Restoration Corp. (LURC) is proving that innovation can still create...

ABCP Investors Demand More from Conduit Administrators.
July 21, 2008... With the market turmoil and investors demanding better credit quality programs, ABCP issuers are responding by cleaning up their act. In a recent report by Fitch Ratings, analysts said that many of the surviving ABCP conduit administrators...

Govt. Officials Try to Restore Trust in GSEs.(Government-sponsored enterprises )
July 21, 2008... Last week there was no shortage of news or data. The week opened with reports of a rescue plan put together by the Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve in an attempt to strengthen confidence in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, including the...

U.K. Should Prepare Itself for Future Disputes: Taking a cue from the U.S., U.K. players told to prepare for subprime-related lawsuits.
July 21, 2008... The European Securitization Forum (ESF) and the Securities and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA) hosted a seminar last week investigating the explosion in U.S. subprime litigation and what implication it had for European market...

CDPCs in the Spotlight as Credit Crisis Takes One of Their Own.
July 21, 2008... It's looking more likely that the credit derivative product company (CDPC) Athilion Capital Corp. will be downgraded over the short term. Until now, CDPCs had been relatively unaffected by the credit crunch, but the latest action on Athilion...

Santander to Expand its U.K. Reach Via A&L Purchase.
July 21, 2008... Spanish bank Santander confirmed a GBP1.3 billion proposed takeover of U.K. lender Alliance & Leicester last week. The proposed deal would give A&L a bigger financial platform that should bode well for the two securitization programs it has...

Monolines Ride Out Tough Market in 2Q08, With Some Success.
July 21, 2008... The financial guarantor industry is still holding on after nearly a year of downgrades, write-downs, litigation and stagnant new issuance. While some have stopped writing new business altogether, others are taking advantage of the challenging...

Smooth MBS Performance Belies wrinkles in Kazakh Assets: It's lonely out there for Kazakh MBS 07. The only public existing asset deal from the country, it popped out mere months before the liquidity crisis made pricing untenable for originators.
July 21, 2008... The quarters that followed saw the credit squeeze abroad expose the dangers of Kazakh banks' overreliance on foreign funding. Meanwhile, an economic slowdown and shaky real estate prices at home - caused in part by a pullback in banks' own...

Goldman SIV Almost a Bright Spot in Loans.
July 21, 2008... Something happened last week that should have boosted leveraged loan primary issuance - or at the very least been a catalyst for change. It was the launch of a $7 billion structured investment vehicle (SIV), a deal led by Goldman Sachs. If...

Whispers.
July 28, 2008... Byline: Editorial Staff TIAA-CREF Asset Management has opened an office in London, its first international office. The new location will be staffed by local investment professionals who will extend TIAA-CREF Global Real Estates activities...