Finance

For 1Q11, U.S. public ABS issuance reached $13.62 billion, according to preliminary figures from the ASR Scorecards database. This is an increase from a year ago when industry volumes reached only $9.4 billion

As the structured finance market struggles to make sense of myriad new rules stemming from the Dodd-Frank Act, it's become clear that rating agency reform initiatives from the regulators have largely been put on hold.

Ally Financial has filed a registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission for an initial public offering to sell common stock held by the U.S. Department of the Treasury.

Fitch Ratings said today that enhancements it continues to make to its rating criteria for structured finance and covered bonds will have less of an effect on ratings for existing and new transactions.

Mortgage rates crept higher for the second week in a row and, while still historically attractive, will likely have some adverse impact on mortgage application activity.

Certain effects of the economic downturn have begun to ease, but one recession-hatched trend persists: Cash-strapped consumers continue to show a preference for paying their credit card bills over their mortgages, TransUnion said.

Commonwealth Bank of Australia issued a new AUD1 billion ($1.03 billion) prime RMBS from its Medallion trust series.

Top Republicans on the House Financial Services Committee clashed with Elizabeth Warren, who is leading the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) creation, over her role in the mortgage servicer settlement.

The New York City Comptroller's office, representing pension funds that own shares in Bank of America Corp., wants the bank's board to review the company's controls for loan modifications, foreclosures and securitizations.

As of January 2011, the "shadow inventory" of homes declined slightly from the same time period a year ago, but nine months' worth of supply still remains, according to a new report released by CoreLogic.

Lewis Ranieri, the co-inventor of the MBS, on Wednesday predicted that the new 'qualified residential mortgage' (QRM) rule will push more borrowers into non-QRM loans who would normally qualify for a Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac product.

The Federal Reserve declined American International Group’s offer to buy all of the assets in Maiden Lane II LLC (MLII), according to a release from the Fed.

SKS Microfinance announced the securitization of receivables worth Rs 550cr ($12.3 million) from microfinance (MFI) borrowers.

Although federal regulators aren't giving many specifics as to how they might change servicing compensation, at least one participant in recent meetings with the government said they've decided on a number: 12.5 basis points.

Fannie Mae's relatively new Guaranteed Multifamily Structures Program is gaining market traction.

The House of Representatives late Tuesday voted to kill HAMP, the White House's signature loan modification program and to stop the administration from spending more TARP funds on foreclosure prevention programs.

The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) hired Thomas Kim as vice president of commercial regulatory policy.

Not surprisingly, mortgage application activity declined in the week ending March 25 as a result of an uptick in mortgage rates.

Taking a piecemeal approach to housing reform, House Republicans introduced a series of bills Tuesday to scale back Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Depending on who you talked to, the risk-retention proposal out Tuesday would either restore sensible standards to the lending market or result in a significant credit crunch.