Finance

Grant & Eisenhofer filed a lawsuit this week against Highland Capital and two of its hedge funds on behalf of institutional and individual investors, according to a Grant & Eisenhofer release.

The U.S. Department of the Treasury, in a joint statement with the Federal Reserve and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC), announced today the launch of the Legacy Securities Public-Private Investment Program (PPIP), which is part of the government’s Legacy Securities Program.

Investment grade European CLO tranches will not suffer losses, according to Fitch Ratings, which is true if the agency’s average default and base case recovery assumptions occur.

Philadelphia-based law firm Cozen O’Connor has reorganized existing businesses to create a capital markets group, according to a release from the firm.

Fiserv Inc. is updating its Loan Servicing Platform to make it more fully compatible with recent guidelines from the U.S. Treasury Department on home loan modifications.

Mortgage fraud-related Suspicious Activity Reports referred to law enforcement increased 36% to 63,713 during 2008, compared to 46,717 reports in 2007, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation's 2008 Mortgage Fraud Report.

CB Richard Ellis Investors has hired Audrey Greenberg as the chief financial officer for the Strategic Partners U.S. fund series. She will oversee investor relations, accounting and reporting, treasury operations and enterprise reporting, as well as involvement in fund financing activities.

State Street Bank and Trust, the trustee of Cheyne CLO Investments, said it suspended the use of the loan fund’s collateral account to meet a shortfall in payments due to noteholders.

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York named RBC Capital Markets the second new primary dealer in 2009, as reported in an RBC release. The designation will be effective today.

Mortgage application activity increased last week with both refinancing and purchase activity moving higher.

After peaking at $11.5 billion last month, requests for loans through the Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility (TALF) dropped to $5.4 billion, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York said Tuesday.

The merger of two government-sponsored enterprise regulators to form the Federal Housing Finance Agency — a year ago this month — offers a cautionary tale as policymakers consider combining banking agencies and creating a new consumer protection supervisor.

CarMax priced a $489 million Term ABS Loan Facility (TALF)-eligible auto deal. JPMorgan Securities is lead manager on the offering.

The U.S. Office of Thrift Supervision ordered First Marblehead Corp. on July 2 to reduce its concentration of private student loans, according to published reports.

Lewtan Technologies announced today that 1010data, a provider of the analytics platform delivered online for MBS and ABS, will offer ABSNet Loan data to their customers.

Deloitte & Touche has released an enhanced version of its CDO Suite product.

Wells Fargo & Co. announced that its investment banking and capital markets businesses formerly operating under the Wachovia Securities and certain Wells Fargo brands will now operate under the Wells Fargo Securities brand.

Moody’s Investors Service published a report today called V Scores and Parameter Sensitivities in the Global Cash Flow CLO Sector.

Refinancings of existing mortgages accounted for 77% of all loans funded in the first quarter, the highest reading since National Mortgage News began tracking such figures in the late 1990s.

The 30-day delinquency rate on "open-end" home equity lines of credit jumped 43 basis points in the first quarter to a record high of 1.89% on a seasonally adjusted basis, according to an American Bankers Association survey.