Finance

Bank of America Corp. has agreed to pay $315 million to settle claims that its Merrill Lynch unit made false and misleading statements about the quality of subprime MBS it sold to investors.

Bank of America Corp. is expected to clear a legal hurdle that tripped up Citigroup last week and has propelled it toward a risky day in court.

European ABS issuance sold to investors should at most grow only modestly next year, Standard & Poor's said.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency this week hired Manoj K. Singh as principal examiner for risk, in charge of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

ABS related to autos, including deals backed by floorplans and leases, is likely to rise about 6% in volume during 2012, to $80 billion, Standard & Poor's said today. The figure for 2011 through Dec. 1 is $69 billion, according to the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA).

Jon Corzine, former head of MF Global, who was subpoenaed last week to testify in front of Congress, could shed some insight over where the missing MF Global funds ended.

Most CMBS collateral from 2001 rated by Fitch Ratings has withstood both a turn-of-the-decade recession and a recent global credit crisis.

UBS and Citigroup are planning to sell a $674 million CMBS expected to close before the year's end, according to a Bloomberg report.

JPMorgan has raised a $304.9 million CLO for Prudential Investment Management, according to people familiar with the situation.

Volkswagen is readying its first auto loan ABS backed by Japanese loans from its Driver program, according to a Reuters report.

Morgan Stanley has raised a $353.8 million CLO for New York Life Investment Management, according to a presale report from Standard & Poor’s.

Five banks across the nation failed in November, according to Trepp's latest report, with commercial real estate a major contributing factor.

Consumer Portfolio Services (CPS) is in the market with CPS Auto Receivables Trust 2011-C worth $119 million.

Ginnie Mae has warned seven of its MBS issuers during the first nine months of 2011 that they are in violation of agency's rules, according to an audit by the General Accountability Office (GAO). The identities of the seven were not revealed.

Fitch Ratings said Friday that an outlook change to negative for "defeased" U.S. CMBS looks unlikely despite the use of government debt in defeasance and a recent revision of the sovereign outlook to negative.

Craig Sedmak, head of CMBS trading at the Royal Bank of Scotland, has left the bank to pursue interests outside of financial services, according to people familiar with the situation.

New data released from the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority's (FINRA) Trade Reporting and Compliance Engine (TRACE) showed that the average weekly CMBS trading volume has been decreasing since June.

Ballard Spahr has created a mortgage banking group and hired a team of four attorneys who are at the forefront of evolving regulatory developments.

PNC Financial Services is taking a look at parts of MetLife Mortgage, according to industry advisors familiar with the situation.

Manager Activity: Autos Book Runner Amount (US$ Mil) Rank Mkt.