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At press time it was learned that John Griff is no longer at HSBC Securities. Griff had been the firm's president, and oversaw HSBC's capital markets group. Among other notable hires, including investment banking group head Greg Meredith, Griff had hired John Cutting, who just recently left HSBC to head a CMBS effort at Dresdner.

Former Credit Suisse First Boston MBS trader Richard Winters is starting a new independent trading firm that will sell mortgage and home equity loans on behalf of GreenPoint Bank, sources said. Winters' venture, which is financially sponsored by GreenPoint, will also provide warehousing facilities for some of GreenPoint's loans. Winters is reportedly poaching his former firm for talent to staff the venture.

Norddeutsche Landesbank is looking for a senior credit analyst to work on the credit aspects of the securities portfolio, with particular emphasis on structured securities (ABS, MBS, and CDOs). Part of the managed portfolio is associated with Hannover Funding, the NORD/LB sponsored ABCP conduit. The hire would report to the head of credit, but would work closely with asset-backed finance and capital markets. Call Omar Bolli at 212-812-6946.

News

The Wall Street Journal reported that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will eventually reach their saturation point. The Journal added that competition from the Federal Home Loan Banks is not helping the situation. However, MBS analysts told ASR that the FHLBs have actually been competing more with Ginnie Mae rather than the two GSEs, thus significantly cutting into Ginnie's market share. In fact, the July prepayment report released last week showed that for yet another month, GNMA paydowns significantly exceeded GNMA originations. Analysts say that the GNMA fixed-rate market is actually shrinking because of the FHLBs.

FDIC actions as receiver of NextBank N.A. have not only impacted ABS bondholders but may result in higher credit enhancement levels and potential rating actions for certain credit card ABS issuers going forward, said Fitch Ratings. FDIC's decision not to fund purchases during early amortization and to effectively close charging privileges of the cardholder base will have the greatest impact on card securitizations. As a result, Fitch is now examining which issuers could be treated similarly in an FDIC receivership situation or by a bankrupt trustee in the case of a non-regulated issuer.

Malaysia Global Sukuk,a Labuan special purpose vehicle, is launching the first global Islamic bond. The 144A issue is an asset-backed financing, lead managed by HSBC Securities. The purpose of the deal is to enable the government of Malaysia to raise financing in accordance with Sharia law. Investors will not receive coupon payments as Sharia law does not permit interest payments, however they will receive a payment that is more along the lines of a dividend. This will come from the rental payments of the Malaysian government and will be set at a spread over Libor.

Samsung Life Insurance is expected to launch Korea's first cross border residential mortgage-backed security (RMBS) transaction, probably in the fourth quarter of this year. The transaction is expected to be at least $500 million. Credit Suisse First Boston, Lehman Brothers and Morgan Stanley have been short listed for the role of lead manager, and the mandate is expected in the coming weeks.

JPMorgan's MBS Client Survey Index increased to 0.90 from an all-time low of 0.66. About 65 institutional investors responded to the survey. Analysts from the firm said that the Index was driven by a decrease in underweights that settled at 31.5% (from an all-time high of 44.1%) and an increase in overweights to 24.1% (from an all-time low of 14.7%). While the mortgage index level stayed at $103 to 16, money managers remain underweight on average and banks and insurance companies seem to be on neutral MBS.

Calendar

September 5-6: London, England: The Strategic Research Institute will present The Premier European Forum on ABCP. For more information visit www.srinstitute.com/ca273

September 10-11: Berlin, Germany: The Information Management Network will host the fourth annual summit on German and Northern European Securitization. For more information, visit www.imn.org/a397/m/

September 12: New York: Moody's Investor Service will hold a Residential MBS Investor Briefing. For more information, call Karey Keely at 212-298-7373 or email karyn.keely@moody's.com

September 12-13: Berlin, Germany: The Information Management Network will sponsor the fifth annual CDOs 2002: Brave New World conference. For more information, visit www.imn.org/a398/m/

September 30-October 2: Washington, DC: The Latin America Investor Summit will be held during the annual meetings of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. For more information, visit www.latin-summit.com

October 6-9: Miami, FL: The Strategic Research Institute will host the The ABS South Beach Industry Summit. For more information visit www.srinstitute.com/ca280

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