A gauge of CMBS tenant risk in the U.S. has scarcely been nicked by the U.S. downgrade, according to Standard & Poor's.

GSO Capital Partners, the credit arm of private equity firm The Blackstone Group, has priced a $369 million collateralized loan obligation.

SNR Denton hired Scott Samlin as a partner in the capital markets practice. Samlin was previously at Morgan Stanley where he was the executive director for the residential mortgage and lending compliance business. He will be based in New York.

CIT Group has appointed Nelson J. Chai as president, the company said today.

Ares Management is expanding its presence in the European CLO market.

In 2Q11, the quality of the loans backing CMBS conduits held steady in terms of leverage, although there are already signs of more aggressive underwriting, Moody's Investors Service said in a report released today on its quarterly review.

Insurance-linked securitizations (ILS) are holding up even in the aftermath of the major natural disasters that hit during early 2011, said Standard & Poor’s in a release.

A bipartisan group of lawmakers, aided by banking and housing groups, are beginning a strong lobbying push to forestall a scheduled drop in the maximum sizes of mortgages backed by the GSEs.

Although Bank of America entered into a $2.8 billion buyback settlement with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac late last year, it is looking at additional repurchase claims regarding the two GSEs, according to a new filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury fell to 2.35% Monday morning, nearing its all-time low as stocks sold off in the wake of Standard & Poor's historic debt downgrade on the U.S.

American International Group (AIG) plans to sue Bank of America along with a host of other prominent financial institutions as the insurer seeks to recover losses on MBS, according to a report in The New York Times.The newspaper, quoting sources with knowledge of the pending action, says AIG hopes to recover more than $10 billion in losses on some $28 billion in investments, claiming the bank along with its Merrill Lynch and Countrywide Financial units misrepresented the quality of mortgages.

The CRE Finance Council (CREFC) hired Martin Schuh to fill the newly created position of director, legislative and regulatory policy. The new hire is based in CREFC’s new Washington, DC office.