Finance

Proposed bank capital rules are likely to both benefit and crimp the securitization market, potentially making highly rated transactions less attractive while having uneven effects on different asset classes.

Investors appeared very much to play the range this final week of June - and a tight range it is. In the last half of June, the 30-year current coupon spread to 10-year notes has ranged between 106 and 109 basis points.

Lehman Brothers Holdings has completed the sale of its Aurora Bank unit, which concludes "a process that successfully avoided a potentially costly government resolution process of Lehman's two banks and that will ultimately yield significant recovery value for the Lehman creditors," a release from the bank said.

There were 63,000 completed foreclosures in the U.S. in May 2012 versus 77,000 in May 2011, according to CoreLogic’s National Foreclosure Report released today.

Amherst Securities Group (ASG) analysts in their latest Amherst Mortgage Insight talked about the recently approved Homeownership Protection Program (HPP), which allows municipalities to acquire underwater residential mortgages using the right of eminent domain. The program is a product of a resolution approved on June 19 by California’s San Bernardino County and its two cities named City of Ontario and the City of Fontana.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is planning stronger disclosure requirements for reverse mortgages as more evidence emerges that senior citizens are using the product without fully understanding its main features and risks.

Credit card securitization is likely to surpass its $20 billion forecast this year, although the sector still faces competition from cheaper funding options, Standard & Poor's analysts said in an emailed report today.

An independent government watchdog has a sharp message for the federal agency that must decide whether to allow principal reductions on hundreds of thousands of government-backed mortgages: Time's wasting.

The current U.S. subprime auto lending market is developing a resemblance to its condition in the early- and mid-1990s, according to a report released yesterday by Moody's Investors Service.

CLO volume this year has been a bright spot for leveraged loans, with nearly $18 billion in funds launching so far, according to Royal Bank of Scotland analysts.

It’s fascinating to look under the hood of a particular deal and see all the moving parts that make it possible.

BMW Financial Services is readying a new securitization of auto loan receivables, according to a new shelf registration the company filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) today. For the full filing, please click this link.

JPMorgan might have priced its $1.3 billion, new-issue conduit CMBS called JPMCC 2012-CBX tighter than initial price talk. However, this deal will not be enough to boost issuance up to volume levels predicted at the start of 2012, FTN Financial analysts said in a report this week.

Freddie Mac reported 30-year mortgage rates held unchanged at a record low 3.66% for the week ending June 29.

Many lenders and investors are shying away from participating in a special pilot program to refinance Rural Housing Service loans due to risky underwriting features and low profit margins.

As the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) considers imposing further regulations on money market funds, those close to the $2.6 trillion industry say the revisions are unnecessary, could threaten the very existence of the 40-year-old business and would limit access to a vital source of funding for state and local governments.

The Federal Home Loan banks (FHLBanks) increasingly turned to offering short-term, unsecured credit to financial institutions exposed to the turmoil in Europe as the 12-member cooperative's own core business dwindled, a government watchdog said Thursday.

Servicers supervised by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency completed fewer loan modifications in the first quarter as the number of delinquent borrowers who need assistance appears to be shrinking.

The nation’s balance of delinquent loans shrank by another 37% in the three-month period ending in May while the market still is catching up with the consequences of bad underwriting during 2005-2007.

Highland Capital Management will stay on as the manager of a $950 million collateralized loan obligation after all.