A new $750 million securitization of credit card receivables from the Penarth receivables trust was announced this week.

Barclays said today it named John Langley and Joe McGrath co-heads of the global finance and risk solutions business within the firm’s investment banking division.

Ally Commercial Finance added a new director that will focus on working with financial sponsors and handle leveraged loans, the firm said.

Markit has acquired Data Explorers, a provider of global securities lending data, from mid-market private equity firm Bowmark Capital.

Utility tariff securitizations - which allow former monopolies to recover upfront their investments in equipment, deferred power procurement or the cost of storm damage - have not always been controversial.

A recent story in ASR's sister publication, National Mortgage News, reported that a number of conduits formed to securitize Jumbo-balance loans using private-label securitizations have recently been closed. This is not surprising, considering the continued difficulties the non-agency MBS market faces. Lenders' inability to securitize loans has profound implications for the mortgage and housing markets, and will make the GSEs increasingly indispensable to housing finance.

Deals by first-time issuers of subprime ABS are wildly oversubscribed, the credit quality of the underlying assets is deteriorating, profit-hungry investment firms are buying stakes in issuers, and financing costs look to hold at record lows for the indefinite future.

Subprime ABS is making a comeback, mostly through auto deals. Some issuers are even doing these deals for the first time.

As life settlements have become an increasingly popular alternative asset class, Ireland has emerged as a leading jurisdiction for the establishment of vehicles for purposes of investing in U.S.-originated life settlement transactions. Sponsors have utilized two types of vehicles in Ireland to achieve their objectives - Irish unregulated special purpose vehicles (SPVs) or regulated qualifying investor funds (QIFs).

In the ASR Scorecards database's preliminary public lead manager rankings for 1Q12, Citigroup Global Markets took the No. 1 spot with a 12.6% market share and $4.8 billion sold. Citi rose three spots from 1Q11 with a 14.7% market share and $2.07 billion sold. ASR's 1Q12 numbers are as of March 26 while its 1Q11 are as March 31, 2011.

Changes made late last year to the Home Affordable Refinance Program, or HARP 2.0, are finally starting to affect prepayment speeds for both conventional MBS and GNMAs, and more recent changes in the Federal Housing Administration's (FHA) mortgage insurance premium (MIP) are also creating uncertainty about the prepayment outlook.

The European Commission's interpretation of Basel III rules for requiring banks to hold enough liquid assets to meet cash-flow needs for up to 30 days initially penalized RMBS.