The Standard & Poor's downgrade of the U.S. long-term debt rating was followed a few days later by downgrades of debt issued by government-related entities such as the Federal Home Loan Banks and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC), as well as a slew of funds with a majority of their exposures to U.S. Treasurys.

It's been a brutal time for executives in structured finance departments across Wall Street since the 2008 financial crisis.

Once again the fear in the MBS market is the possibility of a government refinancing program —dubbed refinance.gov or refi.gov by analysts — as a way to stimulate the economy.

The current shutdown of the European leveraged loan market, after a glimpse of better times earlier this year, has prompted some to fret, once again, about a barrage of loan maturities coming due just as many of Europe's CLOs come to the end of their reinvestment period.

As part of its ongoing efforts to better align the interests of participants in the RMBS market and address the issue of risk retention, the Asset Securitization Forum (ASF) has come out with some guidelines relating to the repurchase of RMBS.

The insurance industry, market analysts said, is increasingly relying on the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) ratings to evaluate non-agency RMBS.

Objections continue to mount against Bank of America's proposed $8.5 billion settlement with 22 major holders of Countrywide Financial Corp. mortgage-backed securities.

Some of the largest mortgage servicers are still fabricating documents that should have been signed years ago and submitting them as evidence to foreclose on homeowners.

Linklaters has hired Patrice Doat as its new capital markets partner.

Bank of New York Mellon Corp. said late Wednesday that Robert P. Kelly had resigned as chairman and chief executive due to differences with the board "in approach to managing the company."

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) believes that mortgage REITs are beginning to look more like mutual funds and has initiated a review of their exemption from the Investment Company Act.

After months of rumors, Bank of America made it official Wednesday morning, saying it would exit the correspondent mortgage space, where it ranks second nationwide.