RMBS

Fortress Investment Group, New York, has agreed to acquire CW Financial Services, a servicer, special servicer and originator of commercial and multifamily real estate loans, from majority shareholder Otera U.S. Holding.

After experiencing a barrage of criticism for their tardy downgrades, the top three ratings agencies are seeking to regain credibility by tailoring their research efforts to better meet the needs of investors.

The defining characteristic of the economic downturn of the last few years has been the collapse in real estate prices from their 2006 peak. The losses have impacted the economy in a variety of ways. Aside from devaluing many families' single largest asset, declining home prices removed the equity extraction that had been juicing consumption for years. The housing crash has also impacted the labor markets by both destroying many high-paying jobs in the construction trades and impairing the mobility of workers saddled with negative equity.

Although covered bonds and ABS are starting to be regarded as alternatives to one another, market experts said that these two markets could definitely co-exist. For one, these products have very different sets of buyers. The two also have varying liquidity and structural advantages and constraints.

Despite the devastation in the wake of the global financial crisis, there are certain areas of the securitization market that present opportunities for investors.

Mortgage prices across most of the stack are sitting at record highs, while mortgage rates are near record lows.

Last June the Basel Committee released the calendar for implementing adjustments to the Basel II market risk framework.

For 1H10, public ABS issuance reached $25.76 billion, according to preliminary figures from the ASR Scorecards database. This figure dropped from $50.7 billion for 1H09.

Several deals have come to market backed by different asset classes from issuers in various parts of the globe.

The New York Federal Reserve will engage in coupon swaps to help facilitate the delivery of approximately $9.2 billion in currently unsettled FNMA 5.5% pools, the regulator announced this morning.