Recent data on macroeconomic forces in the market, such as lower than anticipated GDP and consumer confidence, have and will continue to play a large part in redefining expected future growth in commercial real estate, said panelists speaking at the CRE Finance Council's (CREFC) annual June convention in New York City.

At one of the panels at the Global ABS 2011 conference being held in Brussels this week, participants discussed the new data disclosure requirements from the European Central Bank (ECB).

There remains value in certain European ABS sectors despite their risk profile, said panelists at the Association for Financial Markets in Europe’s (AFME) and the Information Management Network’s Global ABS 2011 conference being held in Brussels this week.

The mood at the Association for Financial Markets in Europe’s (AFME) and the Information Management Network’s Global ABS 2011 was upbeat, although still marked by the uncertainty that the lack of regulatory clarity brings.

Ambac Financial Group has appointed Diana Adams as its new president and CEO, replacing David Wallis who will retire July 6. Adams will also assume Wallis's responsibilities as director of bond insurer Ambac Assurance Corp.

REITs certainly don’t have the presence in the residential mortgage market they did before the downturn but according to a Keefe, Bruyette & Woods report last week, there are still a good 15 publicly traded ones out there, some of which investors may want to keep an eye on in terms of their potential ability become bigger contenders in the space.

The CRE Finance Council today announce the appointment of Jack M. Cohen as President of CREFC.

Credit derivatives pioneer Thomas W. Jasper has joined credit derivative trading portal Traccr as a strategic adviser.

Ford Motor Credit Co. has issued $1.0 billion securitization backed by a revolving pool of prime auto loans from its FUEL Trust series.

The largest loan from BACM 2002-PB2 became 30 days delinquent according to the most recent servicer data and the most recent appraised value points to the possibility of a big loss to the deal.

The epic destruction wrought by the Japanese earthquake and tsunami last March should not have a direct effect on the credit quality of Japanese REITs (J-REITs), Standard & Poor’s said in a report.

Sapient Global Markets and Standard and Poor’s Valuation and Risk Strategies (S&P VRS) announced their formal partnership in a statement today.