Consumer ABS

The week after Wells Fargo & Co. announced the closing of its storefront subprime lending unit, Citigroup's chief executive delivered an impassioned defense of keeping alive his similar operation, CitiFinancial.

While the Basel II process dragged on for years, international and domestic regulators appear intent on delivering a new set of capital and liquidity standards on time by yearend.

New Mexico Education Assitance Foundation is in the market with a $383 million transaction backed by FFELP loans.

Cecile Houlot joined Morgan Stanley as managing director and head of its European securitization effort within the global structured solutions group.

Originator LEAF Funding Inc. (LFI), wholly owned by LEAF Financial Corp., is in the market with a $171.4 million transaction backed primarily by a pool of secured commercial loan contracts, finance leases and fair market value leases originated by LFI.

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.

AmeriCredit priced another auto ABS wrapped by Assured Guaranty Corp. Back in late March, the auto firm priced another $200 million offering that was insured by Assured as well.

Though payment card volume at many merchants is still down from a year earlier, a new report from Capital Access Network showed that the decline is slowing — and that spending at high-end restaurants is even increasing.

KDX Ventures, a joint venture between DebtX and KEMA Advisors, will sell $234 million in multifamily and healthcare loans for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development(HUD).

Fortress Investment Group (FIG) has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire nearly 80% of American International Group (AIG) subsidiary American General Finance (AGF). The transaction is set to close at the end of 2011's first quarter.