Finance

Garett Stoffels joined BGC Partners' real estate capital markets group as senior managing director and head of equity capital markets, the company said in press release today.

If enacted by U.S. regulators as currently drafted, the Simple Supervisory Formula Approach (SSFA) would require banks to give capital risk weightings to securitizations that are sharply higher than those assessed under the longstanding ratings-based approach, according to a presentation by Brian P. Lancaster, co-head of structured transactions at RBS, and John Jordan, from the bank’s financial institutions division.

As the possibility of Greece’s exit from the Eurozone heightens, Moody’s Investors Service today announced that it downgraded the ratings of four Greek covered bond programs. The main catalyst for these downgrades was Moody’s lowering of its Greek country ceiling to ‘Caa2.’

Credit Suisse intends to publicly place the CHF 237 million ($248mln) senior tranche of a new credit card ABS deal; it will be the first time a Swiss credit card securitization is publicly marketed, according to Fitch Ratings.

After Fitch Ratings performed two stress tests — severe and moderate — on its rated CMBS, the results reveal that 67% of ‘AAAsf’ ratings would remain strong in a severe recession or decline in the real estate markets’ activity.

The May prepayment report was all about HARP, as was expected; however, speeds on seasoned 5.0%s on through 6.5% were faster than anticipated. Meanwhile, lower coupons were mostly slower than projected.

Moody’s Investors Service said that Spain, Greece and the U.K. are the European countries most vulnerable to a precipitous drop in housing prices from an economic shock, according to a report released Thursday on the agency’s methodology for stressing house prices linked to its RMBS transactions.

The differential in pricing between Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac MBS has widened over the past year despite a high level of refinancings and issuance. But concerns are growing that investors’ preference for Fannie mortgage-backed securities could increase even more as refinancings decline later this year, according to officials at the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA). Both GSEs are wards of the federal government.

The International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) has recommeded high-level international standards for the regulation of market participants that are in the business of dealing, making a market or intermediating transactions in over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives.

The nation’s mega servicers are increasing their use of principal reductions in modifying loans as they fulfill obligations under the $25 billion robo-signing settlement with the state attorneys general and federal agencies, according to new figures released by the Treasury Department.

The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged investment management company Oppenheimer Funds' sales and distribution arm for misleading investors about the extent of the exposure of two of its mutual funds to CMBS in the midst of the credit crisis in late 2008.

Standard & Poor's said in a report today that U.S. credit card securitization volume is up by 156% from volumes issued in 2011.

Proposed legislation covering Canadian covered bonds will increase the structural requirements for achieving triple-A, according to Nicolas Malaterre, senior director of covered bonds at Standard & Poor’s.

Despite intense volatility buffeting the Eurozone in recent months, Bank of America Merrill Lynch sees long-term strengths in the region’s structured finance space.

Barclays Capital issued a $500 million transaction from its medium-term note program, Gracechurch Card Program Funding PLC.

Milestone Merchant Partners is circulating an offering book on $30.8 billion of mortgage servicing rights that once belonged to now-defunct Taylor, Bean & Whitaker, Ocala, Fla.

An executive at a real estate investment trust that invests in agency and non-agency MBS said proposed credit risk-sharing opportunities with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are among the type of investments his firm would like to buy into.

The U.S. hurricane season is only just getting underway, but so far this year, insured damage from tornado activity and other global catastrophes is running well below the same time last year, according to Guy Carpenter.

The commercial real estate finance company hired James Cope and Patrick Dempsey as senior vice presidents with plans to open a new office in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Freddie Mac's new offering of Structured Pass-Through Certificates backed exclusively by multifamily mortgages with a 7-year term will be sized at $1.0 billion.