Asset Securitization Report articles from May 2007

Asset Securitization Report archives from May 2007

Whispers.(Calyon Americas appoints Andrew Schaeffer,JPMorgan Chase & Co.,Condesa Financiera )
May 7, 2007... Mexico's Condesa Financiera might come out with its first securitization of mortgages by the first quarter of 2008, according to CEO Christopher Gaughan. The specialty finance company could be pumping out the equivalent of $7 million monthly...

Loan modifications could hinder subprime pool performance.
May 7, 2007... MIAMI - While federal regulators and, possibly, the rating agencies are advocating for loan modifications in lieu of foreclosures, some say loan modifications will only delay inevitable defaults. Moody's Investors Service announced late...

Brazilian deals hold promise.(Companhia Paulista de Trens Metropolitanos)
May 7, 2007... MIAMI - While last week's Information Management Network Spring ABS 2007 conference provided a good primer on the Brazilian structured finance market for the uninitiated, participants from Sao Paulo were also holding forth on what's ahead for...

ILS growth linked to new perils.
May 7, 2007... The insurance-linked security industry appears to be evolving on two distinctly different fronts. On one hand, the 2004 and 2005 weather seasons tested the insurance and reinsurance industries' combined abilities to manage risks related to...

Real estate ABS investors' choosiness widens spreads.
May 7, 2007... The cacophony surrounding the subprime market's recent volatility is beginning to quiet down. Thirty-day delinquencies among subprime mortgages originated in 2006 leveled off recently. Although most analysts say that development is a...

ABN AMRO sale stopped.
May 7, 2007... Saying that ABN AMRO must put the estimated $21 billion sale of its LaSalle Bank unit to a shareholder vote before it agrees to a takeover by Barclays Bank, a Dutch court put the brakes on the transaction and created an opportunity for rival...

Conference-goers debate existence of HEL value.(home loan equity)
May 7, 2007... One could argue that investor sentiment toward subprime mortgages has become more optimistic in recent weeks. HEL spreads have tightened in the secondary and synthetic markets - and some new-issue deals have actually been over-subscribed. ...

Speakers debate future of ABS CDO sector.
May 7, 2007... MIAMI - Shaken by diminished investor demand and in some cases significant losses, but heartened by improving market conditions, CDO issuers are cautiously slipping quarters back into the so-called CDO machine that once fueled much of the...

LCDS grows as U.S. index launches.
May 7, 2007... The Loan Only Credit Default Swaps (LCDS) market has been an increasingly hot topic, especially as the market gears up for the launch of the LCDS Index - expected at the end of the month - marking the product's U.S. expansion. Tim Milton,...

RBC conduit expansion matches European growth.
May 7, 2007... The emerging markets of Latin America and Eastern Europe appear to be the favorite modes of expansion for most banks' asset-backed commercial paper programs lately. Royal Bank of Canada, however, is still finding ample room for growth in...

Mortgage investors finally show up.
May 7, 2007... Mortgages saw a bit more activity last week, much of which was more supportive than it had been lately. Early week buying began to seriously emerge when rates backed up modestly on the stronger-than-expected ISM report released on Tuesday. The...

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CMBS pipeline readies for May while the CMBX rolls out its third version.
May 7, 2007... Spreads followed a common pattern in the lower investment grade stack as double-As and lower-rated securities widened out two to 18 basis points in triple-B minus classes in the week ending April 27. Triple-As were firmer on the week, as...

Freddie Mac reports 1Q06 cash-out refi share steady.(Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp.)(Survey)(Financial report)
May 7, 2007... Freddie Mac reported last week that, in the first quarter of 2007, 82% of Freddie Mac-owned loans that were refinanced resulted in new mortgages with loan amounts at least 5% greater than the original loan amounts. This is unchanged from the...

Hybrid ARMs performance experiences a lift.
May 7, 2007... The hybrid ARM sector looks very appealing, especially with the recent strong performance of the up-in-coupon trade, Street analysts say. Before their inclusion in the Lehman Brothers Aggregate Index on April 1, hybrid ARMs had tightened...

Emerging market heavies have all the fun.
May 7, 2007... For the first time, last week's Information Management Network Spring ABS 2007 conference was the right place for emerging market junkies to get a fix, and for those not yet hooked, to decide if this was an asset class they'd like to try. ...

Covenant-lite loans hit Europe, but will they stick?
May 7, 2007... The mid-March launch of a 975 million ($1.32 billion) refinancing for VNU World Directories set the ball rolling for what European loan market players expect to be a growing trend in Europe: That of the covenant-lite loan. The feature has...

Russian supply of ABS could pressure demand down the road.(asset backed securities)(Brief article)
May 7, 2007... MIAMI - Russia's push into the world of existing asset securitization isn't even two years old, and there is already talk of potential bottlenecks on the demand side if the breakneck pace of growth holds firm. These remarks were made at last...

Spanish RMBS holds out, against fundamentals, analysts say.
May 7, 2007... The Spanish real estate market is proving strong, despite scares that resulted from the recent decrease in equity prices on the Madrid Stock Exchange (ASR, 4/30/07). Generally speaking, the outlook remains positive and, by the beginning of...

Bank of England warning deters lenders little.
May 7, 2007... The Bank of England (BoE) reported last week on six potential factors that could slow down Great Britain's macroeconomy. Following the subprime problems in the U.S., the bank highlighted its concerns on similar loans going unpaid as one of...

Whispers.
May 14, 2007... F&C Asset Management hired Teimuraz Barbakadze from SG CIB, the investment-banking division of Societe Generale, as head of structured credit. It is a new position for F&C. Executives said the development of a CDO platform is among the firm's...

Merrill launches first collateralized FX obligation structure.
May 14, 2007... Merrill Lynch's collateralized FX obligation (CFXO) structure is the subject of quite a bit of chatter. The attention granted to the structure, which is rated by Standard & Poor's and is currently being marketed globally, generally follows...

Are new issue HEL buyers too hopeful?(home loan equity)
May 14, 2007... A number of market players are counting on newly issued subprime mortgages to perform better than those originated six months or even three months ago, as marginal issuers are weeded out along with the type of borrowers that they sought. ...

House's Student Loan Act passes.
May 14, 2007... The U.S. House of Representatives' approval of tighter restrictions on the preferred lender relationships between student loan providers and universities is not expected to adversely affect the securitization industry. However, market...

As subprime MBS falters, cards move on up.
May 14, 2007... The gush of issuance from the subprime MBS sector has slowed significantly since the overall ABS market kicked off in January and it is beginning to drag down overall issuance numbers, too. No doubt, this is sobering news for the ABS industry....

Should a triple-A rating come with a warning label?
May 14, 2007... U.S. rating agencies are coming under scrutiny in the public eye, as the severity of negative subprime mortgage performance - and its ultimate impact on structured finance CDOs - has renewed the attention paid to credit ratings. Some on Wall...

Traditional arbitrage ABCP program a first for Calyon New York.
May 14, 2007... Calyon New York plans to roll out its first credit arbitrage ABCP program this week, a conduit designed to support its growing asset- and mortgage-backed securities endeavors, specifically its non-multiseller ABS CDO business. Called...

Moderate and two-way flows in mortgages.
May 14, 2007... Mortgage activity was mixed last week after a quiet start. There was no meaningful data released until Wednesday's Federal Open Market Committee's statement. In general, however, the tone remained relatively supportive as the market was range...

April speeds mostly in line with expectations.(conventional prepayments )(Report)
May 14, 2007... The April prepayment reports on conventionals, which were released May 4, showed last month's prepay speeds were in line with earlier Street expectations. Conventional prepayments were up just slightly for most coupons and vintages. This could...

Guidance widens again on CMBS deals as sponsorship wanes.
May 14, 2007... In the past two weeks, CMBS spreads gapped out further, as exemplified by the new guidance on the WBCMT deal, which was met with diminished demand. The recent UBS announcement that it was folding its hedge fund unit Dillon Read Capital...

Moody's: EMEA CMBS growth to continue in 2007 and diversify.
May 14, 2007... Moody's Investors Service predicted CMBS growth in 2007 in the EMEA market at its investor briefing held May 10 in London. Analysts at the ratings agency said the market is diversifying as more pan-European deals become intertwined with CMBS in...

Russia's VTB to revisit RMBS market and bulk up size.
May 14, 2007... At press time, Russia's second-largest bank, VTB Group, was in the midst of an IPO that had apparently whipped throngs of locals into a financial mania. Ahead of last week's deadline for the sale - extended by popular demand - Russian retail...

U.K. pubs won't bite on REITs.
May 14, 2007... Punch Taverns took a step back from the U.K. real estate investment trust frontline and joined other U.K. pubs that remain sidelined on the benefits of converting to REIT status. Since their launch in the U.K. at the beginning of this year,...

Italian mortgage repayments expected to pick up as terms of new law are defined.
May 14, 2007... The Italian banking regulator has released further information on its Bersani decree, announced at the beginning of February and slated to come into effect later this year. According to the terms revealed, borrowers will have more incentive...

Kensington to sell Bradford & Bingley $4bn prime portfolio.
May 14, 2007... Bradford & Bingley announced that it will acquire a GBP2 billion ($3.9 billion) share of Kensington Group's prime mortgage portfolio over the next two years. The acquisitions will be made on a monthly basis, and each portfolio will comprise a...

S&P ups CE for subprime second liens.
May 14, 2007... Standard & Poor's announced last week it will begin requiring more credit enhancement for closed-end subprime second-lien mortgages. The rating agency joins Moody's Investors Service in its decision to do so. Per the new methodology, a 701...

Whispers.
May 21, 2007... Emerging market veteran Ron Dadina has moved over to Bear Stearns. The new hire, who starts today, was hired as a managing director in international debt capital markets. Dadina will be reporting to AJ Mediratta, head of emerging markets debt...

As mezzanine ABS CDO issuance drops, market expects near-term dry spell.
May 21, 2007... As collateral warehouse lines tightened and deals unwound amid subprime performance fears, the mezzanine ABS CDO sector saw its slowest monthly volume in April since November 2005. The volume dropped 75% to $3.5 billion from $13.5 billion in...

Mex ABS caters to locals and foreigners.
May 21, 2007... MIAMI - At last week's sixth annual Securitization in Latin America Summit held by Euromoney and Latin Finance, a much-discussed theme was the rising participation of foreign investors in the Mexican market. In this, and other countries in the...

LTVs expose HEL loss severities.
May 21, 2007... As many HEL investors might suspect, a borrower's loan-to-value ratio is perhaps the leading factor in a given loan's loss severity. Studies show that borrowers are far less likely to abandon their homes - instead attempting to refinance or...

Flight to quality, SLABs slowdown boosts Nelnet's deal.
May 21, 2007... The pricing of Nelnet Inc.'s $2.4 billion transaction went exceptionally well last week, say market players. This is understandable. Secured wholly by FFELP loans and carrying triple-A to single-A ratings from the three major credit rating...

Some California origination shops dabble in arts and crafts'.
May 21, 2007... Whether it be interest-only, high LTV, high DTI or a 50-year-mortgage, for years subprime mortgage investors have weeded out one type of loan or another fearing borrower default. But the one wild card that continues to rear its ugly head -...

Panelists reject mandatory loan modifications.(Discussion)
May 21, 2007... NEW YORK - Borrowers would benefit from loan modifications that are implemented properly. While this would also maximize deal cashflow and thus benefiting investors, industry experts roundly rejected the notion of loan modification imposed by...

AIG FP Capital launches traditional, ABS-focused SIV.
May 21, 2007... For those familiar with the sector, the name structured investment vehicles (SIV) can suggest a fairly generalist, diverse investment strategy, and for much of the industry's history, that was true. These days, however, newer SIV managers are...

Loan market readies for LCDX launch.
May 21, 2007... Conversation surrounding the U.S. loan credit default swap index (LCDX) was buzzing last week as both investors and traders at The Loan Syndications and Trading Association's Loan Only Credit Default Swaps conference in New York on Wednesday,...

Fitch issues first presale report for subprime deal.(residential mortgage backed securities)(Brief article)
May 21, 2007... Fitch Ratings last week issued its first presale report for subprime RMBS. The rating agency plans to issue the reports for subprime deals initially, and may eventually draw them up for Alt-A and prime deals, said Glenn Costello, managing...

Room for growth seen in tobacco bond deals.
May 21, 2007... Cigarette consumption in the U.S. is declining, according to industry statistics, which suggests a shortfall in available revenue to secure tobacco ABS deals. As Louisiana and Virginia prepare to issue their own tobacco settlement bonds,...

Countrywide reviews its mortgage production and application trends.
May 21, 2007... Countrywide Securities' lending volumes have remained strong despite the composition of its production changing profoundly, according to a regular update on the mortgage originator's production and application trends released recently. ...

Application activity slips less than 1%.
May 21, 2007... Mortgage application activity held fairly steady in the week ending May 11. The Mortgage Bankers Association reported that the Refinance Index remained basically unchanged at 2115.5 compared with 2115.2 in the previous survey, while the...

LatAm chatfest turns six, hits growth spurt.(Latin American summit on asset backed securities)
May 21, 2007... Last week, LatAm players assembled for what's become a requisite chatfest for anyone who's serious about this market. Euromoney and LatinFinance held their sixth annual Securitization in Latin America Summit in Miami, attracting more than 300...

CRE CDOs find a niche in Europe.
May 21, 2007... The use of loans backed by commercial real estate (CRE) as collateral for asset-backed CDOs in Europe might not have completely revived a rather dull market, but it has nonetheless added a sparkle that market participants believe has been...

CIFG expands European team.(appointed Richard Lumley and Louise van der Boon)
May 21, 2007... CIFG is expanding its European presence with the hiring of Richard Lumley as director and Louise van der Boon as an associate for its European structured finance team. This is a response to the growing European asset-backed market, specifically...

Dresdner prices MDM Bank's DPR.
May 21, 2007... Russia-based MDM Bank priced a $350 million diversified payment rights (DPR) deal last week via Dresdner Kleinwort. The 144A, Reg S deal was upsized from an original $250 million and had a five-year final, 2.6-year average life maturity....

Bridging continental divides: Pan-European CMBS surge.
May 21, 2007... raises questions of structuring, diversity of jurisdictions Pan-European deals are expected to be a major growth driver for CMBS volumes this year. However, critics argue that there is still much in the way of developing a true Pan-European...

Whispers.
May 28, 2007... Six Degrees Capital Management has hired Bernhard Fischer as managing director, overseeing the firm's New York City office. Fischer has over a decade of both rating agency and buy-side investment experience in new asset and esoteric ABS. Prior...

LCDX launch brings new liquidity to loan sector.
May 28, 2007... Investors poured into the LCDX index during its first days of trading last week, as hedge funds jumped at the opportunity to short the leveraged loan market and dealers looked to hedge exposure. Trading volume in the LCDX index reached $11.1...

BMO bolsters ABS group.
May 28, 2007... Three months after six of its structured finance executives resigned to launch a CDO asset management company and hedge fund, BMO Capital Markets has replenished the team with eight new hires. For the sales and trading side of its capital...

Eyes on gringos who own LatAm homes.
May 28, 2007... To more and more people in the U.S., buying a place in Latin America is no longer an exotic option for retirement or a second home. This holds particularly true for parts of the region within a short flight - or drive - from the U.S. ...

Agency buy down credit curve seen as boon to subprime.
May 28, 2007... The ABS market was a lot kinder toward the subprime MBS sector last week. Perhaps it sprang from indications that, for the first time, agency buy-side participants bought subprime MBS bonds with ratings expected to be below triple-A. ...

Analysts mull effects of recent consumer credit numbers.
May 28, 2007... For a long while during the recent spate of subprime MBS volatility, the most ardent proponents of credit card ABS told the industry that there was no discernible risk of contagion from troubled mortgage-backed securities products. ...

Appraisers strike out in subprime lending blame game.
May 28, 2007... New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo's investigation into mortgage broker influence on property values continued to grab headlines last week when he issued a subpoena to First American Corp.'s real estate appraisal unit eAppraiseIT. The...

Subprime servicing capacity, transfers, worry investors.
May 28, 2007... As a number of the nation's largest subprime mortgage companies parcel off servicing rights, investors are becoming increasingly concerned over the ability for the lenders to provide seamless servicing transitions. What's more, some are...

Fremont rebounds, sells commercial real estate biz.
May 28, 2007... Shares of troubled bank Fremont General Corp. rose more than 40% last week amid a flurry of news that took a number of market participants by surprise and roiled those with a short interest in the business. Fremont announced iStar Financial...

Sharp selloff encourages the up-in-coupon trade in mortgages.
May 28, 2007... Last week should have been relatively uneventful. The market stayed within a narrow range with the limited economic news as well as a short trading week. In mortgages, there was the added anticipation that originators would be on the lighter...

GSEs report decline in retained portfolios for April.
May 28, 2007... After gaining in March, both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac reported declines in their retained portfolios for April. Fannie Mae's portfolio fell 3.7% to $710.6 billion, while rival Freddie Mac's dipped 8.8% to $709.2 billion. In April, Fannie Mae...

Freddie Mac releases new report that tracks loan transitions on refis.(Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp.)
May 28, 2007... Freddie Mac released a new quarterly survey last week called Refinance Product Transition Report. The new survey tracks what types of loans borrowers are refinancing out of and moving back into. The GSE said it plans to release this report...

Senior Loan Officer Survey shows tightening of standards in certain mortgage loans.
May 28, 2007... Last week, the Federal Reserve released its quarterly Senior Loan Officer Survey. The trends remained mostly similar to the previous report released in January. "Overall, the respondent banks reported mixed changes in lending standards and...

European card issuance slow to take off in 2007.
May 28, 2007... It used to be that European credit card securitization deals offered investors some respite from their riskier U.S. counterparts. The lower charge-off rates for European portfolios driven by mostly prime collateral stacked up well when compared...

Synthetic CLOs are on their way.
May 28, 2007... They're still hypothetical and many think they're too cutting-edge and innovative. But synthetic CLOs made up entirely of loan credit default swaps (CDS) are definitely coming to the European marketplace, sources say. Jeremy Carter, an...

Insurance ABS: Prospects to become better than ever?
May 28, 2007... European insurance companies may have been slow to warm to the idea of securitization. However, over the last two years, activity in this sector has picked up. With regulations changing in favor of the use of this capital markets tool,...