DBRS named Nichola James as co-head of sovereign ratings. At the same time, Fergus McCormick, who had been head of sovereign ratings since 2010, will now be chief economist and co-head of sovereign ratings.

JPMorgan is taking a riskier route for its second jumbo prime mortgage loan securitization of 2016. Unlike the bank’s securitization of nonconforming fixed-rate loans in June, the assets backing the $434.1 million JPMMT 2016-2 transaction are exclusively adjusted rate mortgages. They also include a cross-section of loans not meeting qualified mortgage/ability-to-repay safe harbor protections.

American International Group agreed to sell mortgage insurer United Guaranty Corp. to Arch Capital Group as Chief Executive Peter Hancock works to simplify his company and free up capital to return to shareholders

Avant, the online lending platform based in Chicago, appears to be back in the good graces of capital markets investors.

The Commercial Real Estate Finance Council tapped Lisa Pendergast, a respected industry veteran, as its executive director.

Issuance volume of asset-backed securities for the year through August 12, 2016.

Underwriting league tables for asset-backed securities for the year through August 12, 2016.

Mid-market commercial direct lender Newstar Financial is losing one of its founding members and a key figure in establishing its multi-faceted securitization platform with the announced retirement of treasurer and asset management head John Frishkopf.

The recent and ongoing upheaval in Libor rates is producing divergent outlooks on debt and equity positions in CLOs, says the Loan Syndications and Trading Association.

Standard & Poor’s on Thursday assigned an expected ‘AAA’ rating on the Class A (2016-5) series of C seven-year notes, the only tranche in the issuance. The notes will carry an interest rate of 1.27% and supported by 14% credit enhancement – a level in line with Chase’s recent receivables-backed issues in 2016.

American Honda Finance Corp. has filed for its third super prime loan securitization of the year, in a $1.25 billion transaction that could be upsized to $1.5 billion. The deal comes as the company has experienced growing levels of delinquencies and repossessions that have not shaken ratings agencies' faith in Honda's performance as a long-term asset-backed issuer.

The ratings agency raised its rankings of Ocwen as a residential mortgage prime, subprime, special and subordinate-lien servicer to average from below average, S&P said in a news release Tuesday. Similarly, Ocwen's rankings as a commercial mortgage special servicer and a small-balance commercial mortgage primary and special servicer were raised to average from below average.