CMBS

The FDIC held a meeting March 29 to discuss its risk retention rules and the much debated QRM qualification.

Two and a half years after the global financial markets imploded, the dust has begun to settle, providing a clearer view on which sectors of the securitization market will thrive-and which won't.

Despite recent reports of people changes at some of Wall Street's biggest players in the securitization market, finding work, even for experienced hands, is still no easy task.

After the Japanese crisis, CMBS secondary market activity was the most impacted versus all other securitization sectors, experts said.

As the structured finance market struggles to make sense of myriad new rules stemming from the Dodd-Frank Act, it's become clear that rating agency reform initiatives from the regulators have largely been put on hold.

Fitch Ratings said today that enhancements it continues to make to its rating criteria for structured finance and covered bonds will have less of an effect on ratings for existing and new transactions.

Smaller, thinly capitalized investors in nonperforming mortgages could face liquidity concerns in the coming months as private equity investors begin to re-examine their commitment to the business while bolting for higher returns elsewhere.

The American Securitization Forum (ASF) opened a Washington, D.C. office in an effort to further its advocacy efforts on behalf of the securitization markets.

The CRE Finance Council (CREFC) released its comprehensive and complete market standards for CMBS 2.0.

Brazilian securitization consultancy Uqbar said in a report that 2010 issuance of CRIs, the main vehicle for real estate securitization in the country, hit R$8.53 billion ($5.1 billion) last year (see chart below). This was more than double the figure for 2009.