Finance

A report from the FHFA inspector general noted that as of late 2011, the GSEs had placed over 300 high-risk counterparties on watch lists and stopped doing business with over 40 of them.

The National Association of Realtors said that it hopes the Fed’s decision to buy more MBS will lower mortgage rates and stimulate demand in the housing sector.

The independent third-party review firm has hired the securitization expert as general counsel, the company said in a release today.

The second lien market has been on the decline since the housing bust of 2008, but there’s growing evidence that business is starting to gain traction.

The CLO manager said today that it had tapped Jess Larsen for a new role developing and managing relationships with institutional investors in Europe and the Middle East.

Bradley Lerman was appointed as Fannie Mae executive vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary effective Oct. 1, the GSE said today in a release.

The Mortgage Bankers Association said Monday that it has hired Pete Mills as its new senior vice president of residential policy and member services effective Oct. 1.

Barclays Capital analysts expect that publicly placed issuance for 2012 in the European asset-backed market will exceed their original forecast.

Ten industry groups are urging the Consumer Financial Protection Agency to issue a qualified mortgage rule allowing them to adhere to current underwriting standards without fear of litigation.

DBRS said today that rising subprime loan origination volumes and general economic improvement are still creating a positive momentum for the auto sector.

The $65 million Citigroup loan made to Waypoint Real Estate Group for investments in distressed single-family houses converted to rentals, may be a precursor to the much anticipated securitization of these assets.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch analysts' view on most senior FFELP and private student loan ABS remains positive, they said in a Sept. 14 report.

Wells Fargo analysts expect consumer ABS issuance to reach $170 billion in 2012, which is a 60% rise over last year. They also noted a modest shift to longer average lives in new deals.

This week there are two auto deals from Toyota and Enterprise as well as two equipment offerings from CNH and GE Capital.

The Federal Open Market Committee surprised the market in that the announced MBS buying was limited to agency fixed-rate MBS only and not Treasurys, although it will continue Operation Twist through yearend as scheduled.

In the structured finance space, the Sept. 13 Federal Reserve announcement that it is beginning a new quantitative easing program of buying $40 billion in MBS per month is set to have the most impact on levered CMBS pricing levels.

The Federal Housing Administration has opened the bids for its Sept. 12 sale of 5,000 nonperforming formerly insured FHA loans and the results are “very, very positive,” acting commissioner Carol Galante said.

Rep. Scott Garrett, R-N.J., is working a bill that would encourage the re-emergence of a private-label securities market by exempting certain loan pools from risk retention and SEC registration.

In August, roughly $2 billion loans were resolved and taken out from the index versus $1.7 billion of new delinquencies added to the index.

Bluegreen Corp. has completed a timeshare ABS while Westgate Resorts' deal got rated by S&P for a combined $122 million tally of transactions in the sector.