The week kicks off with the usual auto deals, a timeshare ABS and a tobacco settlement revenue bond offering.

Conyers Dill & Pearman appointed Charles Collis as head of the firm’s London office effective today as the firm continues to build its practice for clients across London and Europe.

JPMorgan Chase late last week rebutted federal claims that it misled four now defunct corporate credit unions into buying $1.5 billion of risky MBS and pointed the finger — as National Credit Union Administration's (NCUA) own internal reviews have — at the management of the failed corporates and at NCUA's own examiners.

MORTGAGE DATA 30-yr. Fixed 15-yr. Fixed 5-yr Treasury 1-yr Treasury- MBA Refi Home Purchase Rate Mortgage Rate Mortgage Indexed ARMs Indexed ARMs Index Index Week ending 11/23/11 3.98%

Manager Activity: Autos Book Runner Amount (US$ Mil) Rank Mkt.

2011 2010 2009 ABS (Public + 144A) 129,424.0 109,083.3 135,049.0 ABS (Public + 144A excluding CDOs) 122,709.1 107,615.3 133,377.4 ABS (Public Only) 73,741.5 51,852.0 79,181.5 ABS (144A Only) 55,682.5 57,231.3 55,867.5 Non-Agency MBS 61,203.1 46,327.3 7,998.1 Agency MBS 289,944.1 411,182.1 232,156.8 CMBS 30,772.5 23,941.3 4,143.8

Bank of America, which has vowed to reduce its overall risk in mortgages, is close to completing the sale of a $50 billion package of Freddie Mac mortgage servicing rights, according to advisors close to the deal.

FBR Capital Markets has made large cuts to its leveraged finance group, including high yield trading staff.

Buckley T. Ratchford, head of global bank loan trading and distressed investing at Goldman Sachs, will leave the firm at year’s end, according to an internal memo obtained by ASR sister publication Leveraged Finance News.

The Commercial Real Estate Finance Council in Japan plans to revive CMBS by implementing new market standards.

Investor demand for commercial real estate loan portfolios in both the U.S. and Europe appear to be rising, but these are “two different markets right now,” according to one expert.