Mortgage bankers funded $11.3 billion of interest-only loans in the first quarter, a 60% gain from the same period a year earlier, according to figures compiled by ASR's sister publication, National Mortgage News and the Quarterly Data Report.

The financial bloodbath that could have occurred in the commercial real estate market will be averted as long as federal regulators continue their look-the-other-way policy when it comes to lenders and their troubled borrowers, the head of a San Diego workout firm told a group of real estate journalists in San Antonio.

Ireland's Finance Minister Michael Noonan said yesterday that Anglo Irish Bank Corp. and Irish Nationwide Building Society senior bondholders should share losses instead of the current policy where owners of senior securities are protected.

French banks were the latest to feel the ripples from the Greek crisis, with Moody’s Investors Service placing the three biggest French banks on review for possible downgrade.

Federal regulators may have to take a different approach in drafting a securitization rule after stumbling badly in their first effort to define which mortgages are safe enough to exempt from risk retention.

Credit Suisse has hired two Barclays Capital securitization executives and has made several internal appointments, according to a Dow Jones report.

Mortgage rates were little changed from last week despite the volatility in the market this week.

Favorable regulatory treatment for the covered bond sector in Europe has spurred its growth. said panelists at the Global ABS 2011 conference held this week in Brussels.

While bankers are busy protesting planned additions to the pending Basel III capital regime, regulators are still arguing over the current Basel II standards.

J.G. Wentworth has completed a $265 million securitization of payment rights under structured settlement and fixed-annuity purchase contracts.

Buysiders speaking at an investor roundtable panel said that understanding ABS collateral is key to structured finance recovery.

Despite the overall struggles and uncertainty of the mortgage industry in recent years, mortgage real estate investment trusts (REITs) enjoy a unique advantage over both banks and other non-bank entities, according to a report by Morrison Foerster.