ABS

Regulators are poised next week to start moving away from reliance on the tarnished credit rating agencies in the supervisory process, but finding other options likely will be difficult.

Entergy Arkansas is in the market with a $124.1 million deal lead managed by Morgan Stanley.

Obama administration officials are pushing the largest banks to voluntarily adopt certain provisions of the Dodd-Frank regulatory reform law early, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

Distressed mortgage manager Deer Park Road Corp. has hired Scott Burg as associate portfolio manager, according to published reports.

Hyundai Capital America has filed an S-3 shelf registration with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for a securitization backed by a pool of motor vehicle retail installment sale contracts.

FGIC Corp., the holding company of beleaguered bond insurer Financial Guaranty Insurance Co., announced Wednesday that it had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

Fitch Ratings has introduced an interactive quarterly report for U.S. structured finance market participants called the U.S. Structured Finance Snapshot.

The recently published covered bond graduated valuation haircut schedule from the European Central Bank (ECB) did not take the market by surprise, according to Bank of America Merrill Lynch analysts.

Through its proposals on Regulation AB, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will be subjecting privately sold ABS to the disclosure requirements applicable to securities offered in registered public offerings.

BNY Mellon Corporate Trust has named Richard Stanley and Debra Baker to oversee its structured finance business lines, the firm announced today.

CNH Capital America is in the market with a $753.45 million deal backed by retail equipment loans. Barclays Capital and BNP Paribas are serving as lead managers on the transaction.

Moody’s Investors Service believes that the covered bond legislation unanimously approved by the House Financial Services Committee on July 28 will help covered bond buysiders by setting up investor-friendly procedures following an issuer default.

The American Securitization Forum (ASF) and the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA) expressed their support for Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) proposals designed to increase transparency in the securitization markets, although, at the same time, the groups also aired some of their reservations.

The recent financial crisis and its aftermath have raised fundamental questions about the future of the U.S. housing market and the GSEs.

Amid the gloom and doom surrounding the just-minted financial reform bill, there still remains a fair amount of consumer ABS trading.

Once-regular issuers in the "orphaned" ABS market backed by government-guaranteed FFELP loans are now scrambling to reposition their businesses and offering new private loan products. But investors in student loan ABS are unlikely to see a regular deal flow anytime soon.

Up until the market closed on Tuesday last week, the higher mortgage coupons were setting new price highs as the prepayment outlook remained fairly benign as a result of the U.S. borrowers' credit-impaired status.

Even though the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has given securitization issuers six months to omit credit ratings from ABS registration statements filed under Regulation AB, the ABS industry still has to work on a long-term solution to the unintended consequences of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.

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

Nelnet is in the market with a $378.3 million deal backed by student loans with Barclays Capital serving as lead manager.