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Moody's makes headway into the mortgage-backed market

Following the internal strategic realignment that took place late last fall, Moody's Investors Service has increased its market share in the jumbo and alt-A mortgage-backed securities market nearly two-fold, compared to figures from last year at this time, the rating agency said.

According to Moody's, in the first quarter the agency rated 37 of the 61 jumbo and alt-A deals, or 61% of the market, compared to 15 of the 39 deals, or 38.5% of the market.

In September, Moody's announced that the residential mortgage-backed group would be transitioned into the asset-backed group, under the umbrella of group head Brian Clarkson. Moody's now describes the combined focus as its Asset Finance Group.

"The thought process internally was that, given the investor base that's looking at the residential mortgage-backed deals, it's not that dissimilar from the investors looking at the term asset-backed market," said Linda Stesney, managing director and co-head of the residential mortgage group.

"We also wanted to be able to leverage the strengths we had in our asset-backed group into our residential mortgage-backed group," Clarkson added.

According to Moody's, the rating agency has nearly 100% penetration in the asset-backed market, across all asset classes. Since the realignment, Moody's has moved a few key analysts into the mortgage-backed realm, including Mark DiRienz, Jasper Brice, and Bruce Fabrikant. All report to Stesney and group co-head and managing director Pramila Gupta.

Additionally, the rating agency continues the search for talent, and recently added Moody's alum Marjan Riggi, who returns after a stint at Credit Lyonnais.

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