Finance

Now that it has emerged from bankruptcy, CIT Group has learned firsthand the same lesson other nonbank lenders have: the key to survival is to be more like a bank.

Fitch Ratings has downgraded 293 classes and affirmed 246 classes in 82 U.S. scratch and dent RMBS transactions.

The Government Employees' Retirement System (GERS) of the United States Virgin Islands filed a $1.2 billion suit against Morgan Stanley last week for allegedly pillowing CDO ratings and marketing investment products it expected to fail.

The Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Index continued its upward climb in December but its Present Situation Index fell.

The serious delinquency rate of Fannie Mae's single-family loans nearly hit 5% at the end of October and its loan performance is deteriorating at a rate of 100 basis points per four-month period.

Home price declines throughout the summer months were softer versus earlier in the year because of record high affordability and the first-time homebuyers tax credit.

The Government Housing Bank (GH Bank) of Thailand this week signed a contract with the Secondary Mortgage Corp. (SMC) for the securitization of 50 billion baht ($1.4 billion) worth of loans within five years, according to market reports

At its mid-December meeting, the European Central Bank called for comments on banks' reporting of information about the securitized assets they then swap for ECB liquidity.

The credit binge has been over for years, but the real hangover starts in 2010 for banks holding a lot of commercial real estate loans.

The Treasury Department's pledge of unlimited support for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac may foreshadow changes to the Obama administration's Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP).

December remittance reports, relfecting the November collection period, were released late yesterday.

Fitch Ratings has affirmed 41 and downgraded 171 classes within 20 Bayview Commercial Asset Trust small balance commercial ABS certificate transactions in the course of its ongoing reviews.

Banks purged a ton of bad loans this year, but considerable cleanup still looms in 2010.

While securitization of residential mortgages that lack government backing remains moribund, credit card and other consumer lenders have issued about the same amount of ABS this year as they did in 2008 thanks to a federal rescue.

The Treasury Department will stop purchasing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac MBS on Dec. 31, although as mentioned in an earlier story posted on StructuredFinanceNews.com, the department is increasing its capital support for the two financially strapped GSEs.

On the same day that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac announced multi-million dollar compensation packages for its chief executives, the Treasury Department expanded federal support of the government-sponsored enterprises.

In a court filing, Lehman Brothers requested a judge to let Neuberger Berman sell $180 million of its ABS, Bloomberg reported.

A bipartisan effort by members of the Senate Banking Committee to draft a financial regulatory reform bill is making progress, according to committee leaders.

Bank of America Corp.'s lawsuit against MGIC Investment Corp. reflects escalating tensions in the industry over mortgage insurers' denials of claims that lenders submit for defaulted home loans.

A pair of Bank of America subsidiaries, Countrywide Home Loans, and BAC Home Loans Servicing, is suing Mortgage Guaranty Insurance Corp. (MGIC), seeking a declaratory judgment against the mortgage insurer.