ShareVault

Latest Structured Finance News

• CLO Market Sees Consolidation Activity Surge
  March 1st, 2010, 10:37 AM (PST)
  

  At the onset of the credit crisis, market participants expected a wave of consolidation in the CLO market. The wave turned out to be little more than a ripple, with less than 5% of the CLO market making management changes during the last year and a half, according to analysts at Citigroup Global Markets. That, however, now appears to be changing, with several managers recently acquiring portfolios, and a number of others looking for buyers, sources said.

• Govt. Tries to Solve the Problem Called HAMP
  March 1st, 2010, 10:37 AM (PST)
  

  Reports last week surfaced that the Treasury Department is contemplating changes to the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP), which has been widely criticized for being ineffective. There are several changes to the program that the Treasury is looking at, according to a document obtained by American Banker, ASR's sister publication.

• Banks Lobbying to Temper Impending ABCP Capital Rules
  March 1st, 2010, 10:37 AM (PST)
  

  Despite final rules published last month, banks running ABCP conduits are continuing discussions with regulators in an effort to temper new capital rules they say could shift assets to non-U.S. banks and potentially reduce what has been a successful short-term funding source for U.S. companies. "The requirements significantly increase the cost of being in this business, and they could shrink credit capacity," said Debbie Toennies,JPMorgan's head of conduit management and business development.

• Will Smurfit-Stone Set a Precedent for CLOs?
  March 1st, 2010, 10:37 AM (PST)
  

  CLO managers don't want the exit doors closed on them. Last month, a bank consortium syndicated a $1.2 billion exit loan for Chicago-based box maker Smurfit-Stone. The deal irked several CLO managers because its structure - it was set up to be funded two months after it closed - and lack of covenants effectively kept them from participating. The deal went on to be a hit, trading up after breaking on the secondary. And now some CLO managers wonder if the Smurfit deal will set a precedent and shut CLOs out of other exit loans.

• The Search for Alternatives
  March 1st, 2010, 10:37 AM (PST)
  

  With new accounting rules, regulatory uncertainty, and wary investors making ABS uneconomical for issuers, pockets of the securitization market are paralyzed. Participants are forced to look at alternative funding sources, which Nora Colomer explores in this month's cover story. Solutions range from originators resorting to more club-like deals, where risk can be shared, to banks selling portfolios of whole loans to each other. However, nothing can replace securitization as the most effective way to promote mortgage growth and, at the same time, provide an efficient way for companies to shift risk.

• ABS Manager Rankings
  February 26th, 2010, 10:37 AM (PST)
  

  View the year-to-date manager rankings for the different ABS sectors, including real estate, credit cards and autos.

• ABS Totals
  February 26th, 2010, 10:37 AM (PST)
  

  View year-to-date 2010 ABS issuance totals for ABS, MBS and CMBS.

• The GSEs and the Revised Accounting Standards
  March 1st, 2010, 10:37 AM (PST)
  

  The analysis of the changes in the GSEs' delinquent loan buyout policies focused on their impact on prepayment speeds and coupon swaps. An underlying notion was that the implementation of FAS 166 and 167 by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which took place effective at the beginning of 2010, paved the way for the announcement; since the loans are now carried on their books at fair value, buyouts no longer have any affect on the GSEs' income statements. However, adopting the new accounting rules required the consolidation of massive amounts of MBS trust assets and liabilities onto the GSEs' balance sheets. The consolidation will in turn have a significant impact on their financial statements, and arguably was a significant factor in the Treasury's Dec. 24 announcement of unlimited support for the GSEs. Along with the prospect of continued operating losses, these changes will eventually impact the upcoming debates on housing, the federal budget and the future of the GSEs.

• Handle with Care: Securitization's Survival a Balancing Act
  March 1st, 2010, 10:37 AM (PST)
  

  With the boxes stacked up against the securitization market’s survival, industry players have to play a careful balancing act: How to make the case for the future but still survive in the current hostile environment?

• GMAC Mexicana to Debut Auto Loan ABS
  March 1st, 2010, 10:37 AM (PST)
  

  GMAC Mexicana is on the road with the country's first pure auto loan ABS in the public market, according to sources. Tipping the scales at about Ps1.4 billion ($109 million), the A note will appeal to private banking clients for its short average life of 1.4 years, said a source close to the deal. "It makes a lot of sense to pitch it to private banking," he added. That will likely be one of the areas in which joint leads HSBC and Citigroup brokerage Acciones y Valores will be focusing their efforts during a roadshow that kicks off the week of March 1. HSBC structured the transaction as well. The A tranche is expected to garner a rating of triple-A on the national scales of Fitch Ratings and Standard & Poor's. Part of the notes' enhancement comes from a 21.6% subordination from a B tranche. S&P also rates GMAC Mexicana 'Above Average' as an auto loan servicer.

• Greek Tragedy Cools Europe's Restart
  March 1st, 2010, 10:37 AM (PST)
  

  Sovereign risk" are the words driving pricing in the European securitization market as the troubles in Greece unfold. After a brief period characterized by healthier spreads and a budding primary pipeline, European securitizations are bracing for the impact of Greece's fallout on the whole of Europe.

• Auto Loans in Colombia Steer Toward ABS
  March 1st, 2010, 10:37 AM (PST)
  

  Auto loan ABS might be coming down the Colombian pike this year for the first time, thanks to an appetite for alternative funding sources and a new law authorizing the establishment of non-mortgage securitizers. "We hope to do a first issue in the second half of the year," said Alberto Gutierrez, president of RMBS securitizer Titularizadora Colombiana, adding that his team has filed with the Superintendency of Finance to create Multiactivos, a new agency that would securitize non-mortgage assets.

• CMBS Delinquencies to Reach 10%?
  March 1st, 2010, 10:37 AM (PST)
  

  What a difference a year, or three, makes. Back in 2007, CMBS delinquencies were at lows. This year, CMBS delinquencies are making headlines of a different sort for touching new highs. And it's going to get worse before it gets better.

• Paydowns Expected to Rise to $130 Bln in February and March
  March 1st, 2010, 10:37 AM (PST)
  

  On Feb. 10, Freddie Mac made an unexpected announcement that it would "purchase substantially all 120 days or more delinquent mortgage loans from the company's related fixed-rate and adjustable-rate (ARM) mortgage Participation Certificate (PC) securities." The GSE said these purchases would be reflected in the factor report released on March 4. Later in the day, Fannie Mae made a similar announcement that its buyouts will begin in March - which will reflect in the April factor report - and take place over a few months' time.

• Mortgage Refi Data
  February 26th, 2010, 10:37 AM (PST)
  

  See results from the Mortgage Banker's Associations Refinance and Purchase Indexes as well as the weekly mortgage rates surveyed by Freddie Mac.