ABS

With the votes lined up, the Senate Tuesday was poised to set in motion the final countdown to a vote on financial regulatory reform.

Despite record low mortgage rate levels, mortgage application activity slipped with both refinancing and purchase activity lower in the week ending July 9.

Hogan Lovells has added to its debt capital markets and structured finance team in the U.S. by hiring Emil Arca as a partner. Arca will be based in the New York office.

Kroll Bond Ratings made public the members of its senior management team, which include experts from a range of financial disciplines.

Simmons & Simmons has named Samer Eido as Middle East finance head, according to a report by legalweek.com.

Senate Democratic leaders have rounded up three Republican votes and are close to securing passage of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform bill.

Two private investors have teamed up to buy a roughly $1.2 billion pool of mostly nonperforming residential whole loans offered by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC), investment banking officials and sources close to the deal confirmed to National Mortgage News.

National Public Finance Guarantee Corp. (National), a subsidiary of MBIA, has named William Fallon as interim chief executive officer, the firm announced today. Fallon is currently president and chief operating officer of MBIA .

General Growth Properties (GGP) on Tuesday filed a reorganization plan with a bankruptcy court, which will split the company into two publicly-traded entities that will emerge from bankruptcy by the end of October.

Cagamas Berhad launched the Sukuk al-Amanah Li al-Istithmar (Sukuk ALIm) under its RM5 billion ($1.56 billion) Islamic commercial paper (ICP) and Islamic medium term note (IMTN) programs.

Deutsche Bank hired Jeffrey Mayer as head of global markets for North America. Mayer will be managing the bank’s market-leading sales and trading business in the region.

Moelis & Co. has named Joseph Simon as managing director and chief financial officer, the firm announced today. With over 25 years of experience, Simon will be responsible for all finance and accounting matters and will be based in the firm’s New York office.

PIMCO has named Kristofer Kraus a new executive vice president within its advisory division. He will help lead new business development and relationship management.

PIMCO has named Kristofer Kraus a new executive vice president within its advisory division. He will help lead new business development and relationship management.

General Motors (GM) Co. has decided not to follow through on plans to create its own finance unit, according to a report by Bloomberg. The auto company will instead seek lending assistance from banks, including JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, and Wells Fargo.

Capital Finance Australia and Toyota Motor Corp. are in the market with two auto-backed deals.

Entergy Gulf States Louisiana (EGSL) is in the market with a $244.1 million transaction backed by system restoration bond collateral.

Residential foreclosures could top 1.23 million units this year, according to figures compiled by CoreLogic, Los Altos, Calif.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) hopes to sell a MBS collateralized by at least $500 million of performing residential whole loans by the end of this month through a private placement deal, investment banking sources told National Mortgage News.

Due to an unexpected “entrepreneurial opportunity that was too attractive to pass up,” Legg Mason has lost its CFO C.J. Daley to a privately held asset manager.