Finance

Ireland is the latest country to test the resiliency of European securitization structures against sovereign risk.

A rising number of RMBS are now exposed to 'tail risk', Fitch Ratings said in a report released today.

Among the mortgage market risks Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) chair Sheila Bair has her eye on are recent foreclosure concerns, interest rates, mortgage underwriting and government reallocation away from housing—the last being something she sees advantages to but also acknowledges some potential problems with.

Amid continued weakness for the Federal Home Loan Bank System (FHLBank), its chief regulator said it is committed to getting the regional GSEs back to their core mission of lending to members.

The Federal Reserve's recently launched asset purchase program is making the market nervous.

The American Securitization Forum (ASF) issued a White Paper clarifying the legal principles and processes underpinning the assignment and transfer of home mortgages and the creation of MBS.

Microfinance securitizations tend to be closely tied to the ratings of the originator/servicer, said Fitch Ratings Director Deep N. Mukherjee in a recent report. “In the absence of suitable mitigants with respect to such counterparties, Fitch will link the rating of the transactions to the rating of the originator/servicer,” Mukherjee said.

C-BASS filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last Friday in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan. The failed firm is an issuer, servicer and investor in subprime RMBS.

The lack of new European CMBS issuance means that the number of loans securitized in European CMBS transactions is shrinking, said Fitch Ratings in a report.

Securitization analysts said that it's likely that volumes will begin tapering off after Thanksgiving and for the rest of the year.

Morningside Park CLO is in the market with a $400 million arbitrage cash flow transaction that will be managed by GSO / Blackstone Debt Funds Management.

Flagstar Bank has closed on the sale of a $474 million portfolio of non-insured non-performing residential first mortgages.

While the investment opportunities in the nonagency RMBS space are not what they were in 2008, there is still opportunity there, executives at an internally managed real estate investment trust investing in nonagency and agency RMBS told attendees at a REIT conference in New York.

Dismal home sales figures to be released by Mexican research company Softec are sure to hit construction-loan securitizations, according a report by Moody’s Investors Service. The firm will project a 12% drop for 2010 in a report due to be released over the next few weeks.

Walter Investment Management Corp., Tampa, Fla., has priced a private placement of RMBS notes to be issued by Mid-State Capital Trust 2010-1.

The unemployment rate has been one of the best ways to predict the trajectory of ABS consumer credit losses seen in the most recent and past recessions.

Delinquences on commercial real estate loan CDOs declined slightly in October as more lenders stretched out the maturities of loans backing these securities, according to the latest index results from Fitch Ratings.

The White House announced Friday that it intends to nominate Joseph Smith, the commissioner of banks for North Carolina, as director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA).

House and Senate appropriators allotted $150 million for the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) reverse mortgage program but now it appears those credit subsidy funds won’t be needed because of the new FHA Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) Saver program.

Market estimates of cumulative losses of $400 billion at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are "overly pessimistic," declared analysts at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods (KBW).