Finance

Life settlement securitizations have picked up some renewed interest in recent weeks, and the sector is better placed than ever to live up to its volume potential. However, it still needs to get a few things in order for it to really take off.

Ever since the credit drought set in, loan market participants have been wondering when a new CLO would fall from the sky. There have been a number of predictions regarding CLO activity over the past year or so, but only a few have actually materialized. However, now that conditions have improved, some market participants think a CLO storm cloud is just over the horizon, and they expect to see new CLOs in another six months or so.

Last year, RMBS issuance in major markets of the U.S. and Europe plunged due to either sickly collateral, skittish investors or a combination of both. Colombia, meanwhile, put out a record volume of Ps1.6 trillion ($834 million) in RMBS domestically.

At the Federal Open Market Committee's meeting in late September, its statement indicated that it would slow the pace of its MBS buying, extend the purchases through the end of the 1Q10 and buy the entire $1.25 trillion.

Discussions and proposals on reining in the excesses of the financial system remain active. The last few weeks saw an announcement by the Federal Reserve targeting executive compensation as a component of its plans for financial reform, along with discussions about reducing the financial system's exposure to firms that are "too big to fail."

U.K. loan servicers have never been more under scrutiny, given the current state of the economy and with increasing numbers of loan defaults and limited options for refinance. Although some structured finance investors might believe the current situation for loan servicing is overwhelmingly negative, servicers themselves claim that the picture is mixed.

Several deals made the round today that include eligible collateral under Federal Reserve’s TALF.

INPDL BioPharma announced that it has priced a $300 million securitization transaction intended to monetize certain of its antibody humanization patents and royalties.

The struggling GMAC Financial Services sold $2.9 billion in government-backed debt late on Oct. 28, ahead of a regulatory deadline in November that will test the mortgage/auto lender's capital levels and ability to absorb losses.

Dallas-based Southwest Securities has opened a new fixed income office in San Francisco, the firm said today. The office will serve mainly institutional customers in fixed income sales.

U.S. Third Circuit Court of Appeals yesterday overturned a lower court decision to dismiss a case against Countrywide that alleges the company was behind a nearly $900 million reinsurance kickback scheme which potentially affected hundreds of thousands of borrowers in clear violation of the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA).

Mission Capital Advisors is marketing a portfolio of commercial mortgage loans with an outstanding balance of around $48 million.

ClearStructure Financial Technology released Sentry for Syndicated Loan Trading.

The 30-year averaging 5.03% with an average 0.7 points, and 15-year rates at 4.46%, according to Freddie Mac.

The Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA) hired Timothy Cameron as a managing director and as the principal staff advisor to association’s asset management group (AMG).

Victor Gonzalez is leaving his post as director of investment banking at IXE Casa de Bolsa in Mexico to establish a start-up structurer.

Sales of new homes dropped unexpectedly in September to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 402,000 units but the inventory number sank to the lowest level in 27 years.

GMAC Financial, which controls the nation's fifth largest mortgage banking franchise, is talking to the Treasury Department about the government investing up to $5 billion in additional capital into the struggling mortgage and auto lender.

Legislation to give regulators new powers to protect the financial system from failures of large institutions also imposes high credit risk retention requirements on MBS and ABS securitizations.

House prices rose 1.2% in August from the previous month, according to the Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller house price index, which is up 4.4% since May.