ABS

In competitive sports, being first is always the goal. But the distance between the U.S. — at the head of the pack — and the rest of the world in crafting financial reforms is becoming a major hurdle for implementing the Dodd-Frank Act.

The American Securitization Forum (ASF) today submitted a letter urging regulators to delay the Volcker Rule's implementation.

European banks will likely reprise their former role as major RMBS buyers if the asset class becomes eligible for Basel liquidity requirements, as proposed in the CRD IV implementation draft put out by European Commission, according to analysts at RBS in their weekly ABS report.

The European structured finance market has seen a rise in the ratio of deals sold to investors over those that are retained, according to analysts at Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

Auto companies are lining up their multiple asset-backed offerings this week. Equipment ABS issuers are also joining the mix of automobile securitizations.

Continental Airlines this afternoon sold $892.14 million of passthrough certificates through a deal called Continental Airlines 2012-1 EETC.

Kleinberg, Kaplan, Wolff & Cohen, P.C. has hired Howard Mulligan as of counsel in the corporate department.

Standard & Poor's analysts are projecting that 2012 Canadian covered bond issuance will reach C$20 billion. However, this number is below 2011's record C$25.7 billion.

First Marblehead Corp. sold its data services company and legacy trust administration business to Route 66 Ventures for $13.7 million.

American Electric Power's (AEP) Texas Central Co. (TCC) is issuing an $800 million utility-backed securitization.

Manager Activity: Autos Book Runner Amount (US$ Mil) Rank Mkt.

JGWPT Holdings named Lior Yahalomi its new chief financial officer and executive vice president.

There's more than one kind of CLO revival underway. Issuance of CLOs in the quasi-public 144A market has picked up dramatically since the financial crisis, thanks to the strong performance of existing vehicles. But, market observers say there has also been a pick-up in issuance of CLOs that are truly private, which have proprietary structures and only a handful of participants.

Banks are applying a well-honed strategy to mitigate regulators' recent proposal to determine capital requirements for assets that include securitizations.

With the Dodd-Frank Act giving the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) regulatory oversight over private student loans, issuers in the asset class must now work closely with the agency as it formulates rules to govern the sector.

The state attorneys general announced last month that they finally reached a settlement with the five largest servicers over improper foreclosure and servicing practices.

Moody’s Investors Service in a report Wednesday said that the high jobless rate will keep the default rate among private, non-guaranteed student loans at their presently steep levels through 2012. For the collateral backing ABS deals in the agency’s index, the default figure was 5.1% in Q4, about flat from the 5.0% posted in 2010. That is more than double the pre-recession rate.

Domino's Pizza said today it plans to issue a new securitization deal that will refinance outstanding debt tied to a $1.85 billion 2007 securitization deal.

Steep spreads in the Eurobond market may provide incentives for Turkish banks to issue deals backed by diversified payment rights (DPRs) this year, said Standard & Poor's in a text box accompanying a video presentation on Turkish DPRs.