CMBS

Bank of America Merrill Lynch has hired Alan Todd to be part of its global research group as head of U.S. CMBS research.

After boosting its securitized products origination group just last week, Barclays Capital has hired more personnel for its ABS operations.

Credit Suisse has hired Roger Lehman as managing director and head of CMBS research.

CMBS information provider Trepp released its April 2011 U.S. CMBS Delinquency Report.

The commodities and listed derivatives firm under the guise of former New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine said today that it has taken steps to expanding its capital markets and institutional sales teams with the firm’s recent slew of new hires.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) closed on a sale of securities as part of a securitization backed by around $394.3 million of performing commercial and multi-family mortgages from 13 failed banks.

ABS investors' search for yield has taken them to an interesting place, where products that were once marginal are now the main attraction. In vogue are decidedly esoteric deals, ranging from whole business securitizations to structured settlement transactions.

The government's proposals for mortgage risk retention, aimed at getting sponsors of securitizations to retain some skin in the game, could potentially change the commercial real estate (CRE) financing landscape, while creating opportunity for some.

European securitization market players will apparently put more "skin-in-the-game" than their U.S. counterparts if U.S. regulatory requirements for risk retention move ahead as written.

The financial crisis reached its apex in fall 2008 when major Wall Street firms collapsed. But for the big three rating agencies - Moody's Investors Service, Standard & Poor's and Fitch Ratings - the crisis began at least a year before, when they started issuing massive downgrades of RMBS.