Finance

ABS market players have certainly learned their lesson from the problems that led to the financial crisis.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) put on hold one change that could have shuttered the ABS market starting in early January. But a long line of proposals marching into 2011 will keep ABS compliance departments busy and, in some cases, may fundamentally alter the market.

Many segments of U.S. structured finance were forced to play defense to varying degrees during the last few years in light of this past economic recession. Much of 2010 was viewed as a year of 'lessons learned'. But now with the economic recovery slowly underway, we may finally begin to see U.S. structured finance turn the corner towards stability in 2011. Fitch's Rating Outlook for U.S. structured finance is Stable.

The landscape for non-agency RMBS has dramatically changed and, given the variables that banks must contemplate, it is unlikely that 2011 will see the clarity needed to drive origination volumes in the non-agency space.

Standard Chartered Bank has completed its sixth CLO under its START CLO program called START VI CLO, according to a release from the firm.

For the first time since significant mortgage servicing problems came to light, federal regulators called on Congress Wednesday to establish national standards for the foreclosure process.

The delinquency rate in November jumped 35 basis points overall, which is the largest increase since May 2010, TreppWire reported.

Primus Guaranty completed the sale of its third-party asset management subsidiary CypressTree Investment Management to Commercial Industrial Finance Corp. (CIFC). Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

HeartLand Financial USA, Dubuque, Iowa, has hired a former Bear Stearns Residential Mortgage (BSRM) executive and his team from a failed Arizona thrift to lead what it hopes will be a growing mortgage operation.

Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) chairman Sheila Bair is calling on Treasury officials to streamline the loan modification process and require writedowns of second mortgages.

The Bank of England issued a market notice indicating that it plans to move ahead with new disclosure requirements, according to a Reuters report.

Thomas Parachini has joined SNR Denton's London banking and finance department.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) is ordering servicers under its purview to stop dual tracking foreclosure proceedings and loan modifications whenever legally possible.

Cole Real Estate Investments hired Travis Bowers as senior director of underwriting. In this role, Bowers will be responsible for underwriting functions related to analyzing and acquiring prospective office and industrial acquisition pursuits.

Higher mortgage rates and the Thanksgiving holiday contributed to further slowing in refinancing activity for the week ending Nov. 26.

To quell doubts about its mortgage unit's handling of documents, Bank of America Corp. is distancing itself from … itself.

The drive to privatize Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac may pick up some steam in January when the Republicans actually take over control of the House of Representatives. But it will be largely a lot of hot air, according to federal policy specialists at the National Association of Realtors (NAR).

Some in the “there are no bad bonds, there are only bad prices” club (or perhaps today, the “there are no bonds club”) continue to espouse a love of nonagency RMBS — but for how long?

More data show CMBS delinquencies have been climbing at a notably slower rate, but experts are still seeing downgrades increase and more challenges ahead.

Barclays Capital has launched a new residential mortgage credit model that covers all major residential mortgage products. This tracks mortgages as they progress through the whole chain of borrower actions and servicer reactions.