Finance

Wells Fargo Securities analysts said today that the low interest rate environment might pose challenges for certain consumer ABS sectors, particularly as spreads further tighten.

Residential servicers completed 65,000 foreclosures in February, an 8% decline from the prior month and just about flat from the same period a year ago, according to new figures compiled by CoreLogic, Santa Ana, Calif.The firm said roughly 1.4 million homes -- 3.4% of all units encumbered by a mortgage — were in the foreclosure during the month, compared to 1.5 million in January.

New data shows that originations continue to grow in several categories — especially to subprime credit card customers.For bank credit cards, lending to subprime customers increased 41% from 2010 to 2011. Subprime borrowing hit a four-year high in December with 1.1 million new bank credit cards issued, according to a National Consumer Credit Trends Report produced by Equifax [EFX] and CreditForecast.com. CreditForecast.com is a joint venture of Equifax and Moody's Analytics.

Rialto Real Estate Fund is in the market with a new CMBS deal called Rialto Capital, Series 2012-LT1.

Nomura added a leveraged finance banker to its investment banking group in the Americas, the firm said.

Freddie Mac reported 30-year fixed mortgage rates averaged 3.99% with an average 0.7 point in the week ending March 29 compared to 4.08% with an average 0.8 point last week.Despite the improvement, refinancing activity outside of Home Affordable Refinance Program-related is not likely to be too motivated as the no point rate at 4.18% is still outside the incentive window for many of the borrowers underlying 3.5% and 4.0% coupons.

For now at least, the Obama administration is declining to endorse legislation by Illinois Sen. Richard Durbin that would allow borrowers to discharge their private student loan debt in bankruptcy.During a congressional hearing on Wednesday, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner was non-committal about the legislation, while at the same time suggesting that he is broadly sympathetic with Durbin's concerns about the private student loan market.

Federal regulators ought to start over on the Volcker Rule, and get back to basics.

Last month a lawsuit brought by holders of TruPS resulted in a ruling that stopped the sale of BankAtlantic to BB&T Corp. under the original terms. Following the ruling, BB&T amended the terms and proposed to assume the TruPS obligations.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) will decide sometime in April whether the higher incentive fees the Treasury Department is paying are enough to justify allowing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to do principal reductions for the first time.

The Carlyle Group closed a $510 million CLO, its second in a year, the private equity firm said in statement.

Standard & Poor's most recent European CLO Performance Index Report showed several changes in performance metrics in December 2011.

The House Financial Services Committee Tuesday approved a bill to enhance the FHA's authority to police bad lenders after rejecting an amendment that would have reduced the agency's loan guarantees.

Higher rates pressed on refinancing activity in the week ending March 23. According to the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA), the Refinance Index declined 4.6% to ~3438, its lowest level since early December.

In a departure from recent tender offers in Europe, Spain’s Bankia had a higher-than-expected take-up, according to a release by Barclays Capital analyst Dipesh Mehta.

CRE Finance Council Europe (CREFC Europe) has appointed Peter Denton as chair-elect of the group.

Freddie Mac purchased $37.6 billion of residential loans from its seller/servicers in February, a 10% increase from the prior month, and a sign perhaps that Bank of America's recent decision to quit Fannie Mae is helping Freddie.

Dallas-based Metropolitan Capital Advisors (MCA), has successfully secured a permanent financing package with a CMBS lender for the refinance of the Sunwest portfolio—a collection of 25 single and multi-tenant properties scattered across 8 states.

Prudential Financial Insurance (PFI) is marketing a new hybrid deal that according to market reports is backed by subprime residential mortgage backed securities and guaranteed by the insurer.

FirstEnergy of Ohio is said to be prepping a $500 million securitization of deferred energy costs.