CMBS

While the call for the creation of a catastrophic insurance fund for MBS has been gaining ground in recent weeks, two leading Federal Reserve Board economists are poised to push the concept one step further, suggesting a backstop for all ABS.

European CMBS loan defaults have continued to increase with 10 loans that defaulted in Q210, bringing the total at the end of the quarter to 8.7%.

Starwood Vacation Ownership (SVO) has just priced a $280,000 deal backed by vacation ownership loans related to 17 SVO properties that are located in the U.S. Virgin Islands, Orlando, FL., and Scottsdale, Arizona, among others.

A bankruptcy court approved General Growth Properties’ (GGP) disclosure statement, bringing the shopping mall owner closer to emerging from bankruptcy.

CMBS has been seeing some activity lately. For instance, Starwood Property Trust announced yesterday that it came to market with a CMBS deal that generated non-recourse match funded financing for the firm with an effective cost of funds of around 3.5%.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is conducting an insider trading investigation of General Growth Partners (GGP). The bankrupt shopping mall owner also disclosed that it is receiving equity investment from The Blackstone Group.

Even with reports of JPMorgan Chase planning to sell $1 billion of CMBS — the biggest deal this year — issuance in the sector is still far below 2007 levels.

General Growth Properties (GGP), the Chicago REIT that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in April 2009, reported a loss of $117.5 million, or 37 cents a share, in the second quarter of this year, compared with a loss of $158.4 million, or 51 cents a share, in the second quarter of 2009.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) will soon post bi-weekly records of closed-door meetings it holds with bankers and other stakeholders regarding regulatory reform, the agency said Thursday.

Standard & Poor's is requesting feedback on a supplementary analytic that offers an estimate of the recovery level, given a default, for individual CMBS tranches under various scenarios, S&P said in a report released today.