CMBS

CIT Group Inc. is rounding out its executive suite, taking another step toward normality for the financing company — and potentially earning regulators' approval for John Thain's planned shift toward a banking model.

Standard & Poor’s appointed Howard Esaki as managing director and head of the rating agency's new global structured finance research department.

Loan securitizers are bracing for an invasion of backseat drivers. By Wednesday, June 2, issuers and rating agencies must comply with a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) rule designed to encourage more unsolicited opinions on ABS. The regulator wants to remove the conflicts of interest in the ratings process that led to inflated ratings in the past and contributed to the financial crisis.

CIT Group has hired a new credit chief along with a new head of administrative affairs, the New York-based middle-market lender announced Tuesday.

European CMBS loans saw a slight decrease in repayments during the month of May, according to figures reported by Fitch Ratings Maturity Repayment Index.

The current crisis has drawn into sharp focus concerns that structural features in some securitization transactions may need to be re-assessed to ensure they are adequate in mitigating the impact arising from possible failures of servicers or other transaction parties. Moody's believes that the performance of a securitization transaction depends not only on the underlying collateral performance but also on the effective performance by such transaction parties of their responsibilities. Our November 2009 publication on this topic, Operational Risks in Securitizations to be Revisited, cites several occurrences where nonperformance of a transaction party may have detrimental effects on a transaction's performance regardless of the underlying pool's performance. We refer to this risk as "operational risk,"

Securitization Focus

ABS players are closely monitoring the Greek government's struggles and assessing how they'll impact European securitizations.

Recently the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) granted a temporary exemption from Rule 17g-5(a)(3) for credit ratings provided to most ABS, MBS and other structured finance securities of non-U.S. issuers. This reprieve expires on Dec. 2 and extends from June 2, which is the rule's effective date for domestic firms.

Allonhill hired Fidelity Southern Corp. executive Kathy Ireland as director of securitizations.