ABS

In a final nudge on regulatory reform Thursday, President Obama urged lawmakers and bankers to put politics aside and support the legislation.

Fixed-related mortgage rates were flat to slightly lower for the week ending April 22, according to Freddie Mac's weekly survey.

Wells Fargo on Wednesday promised that it would begin modifying second mortgages under a new wrinkle in the government's Home Affordable Modification Program.

During the boom years, fraudulent property-flipping schemes bedeviled the mortgage industry. As the housing market recovers, the scourge du jour is called flopping.

Fifteen months after Assured Guaranty Corp. agreed to reinsure $13 billion of CIFG Assurance’s public finance portfolio, the process of transitioning from one insurer to the other is not completed, meaning insured bondholders could be at risk.

The unexpected closure of airspace in Europe caused by the recent volcanic ash disruption is not expected to impact ratings of aviation-related structured finance deals, Fitch Ratings said.

Ford Motor Credit sold its $1.09 billion auto loan securitization. The bookrunners on the deal were JPMorgan Securities, Morgan Stanley and RBS Securities, according to a Reuters report.

The federal government’s Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission (FCIC) has subpoenaed Moody’s Corp. for allegedly failing to provide requested information.

Lenders would be exempt from risk retention ratios on MBS issuance if they originate low-risk, fully documented mortgages under an amendment Senator Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., plans to offer when the Senate takes up the regulatory reform bill.

Deutsche Bank said Tuesday that it has made seven new hires for its emerging-markets business in Brazil and Mexico.

PennyMac has named former Bank of America executive Steve Bailey as its chief servicing officer, effective immediately.

In a survey Fannie Mae conducted in December and January, two-thirds of the 3,000 respondents — a group including renters, homeowners with a mortgage and those who owned their home outright — said they still wanted to own a home and nearly 90% said they thought it was wrong to walk away from an underwater mortgage.

The Senate Agriculture Committee voted 13 to 8 to approve a tough bill to regulate derivatives on Wednesday, with one Republican — Sen. Charles Grassley — supporting the measure.

The American Securitization Forum (ASF) today welcomed Redwood Trust's launching of the first private label security backed by newly originated RMBS loans since 2008.

Refinancing and purchase activity also increased as a result of the improved borrowing rates.

Deutsche Bank named Pius Sprenger as head of trading for ABS and CDOs, replacing Greg Lippmann, according to a report from Bloomberg, which quoted two people familiar with the matter who declined to be identified.

Former President Bill Clinton now says he had an inadvertent role in the credit crisis and the Securities and Exchange Commission’s civil fraud case against Goldman Sachs by signing the Commodity Futures Modernization Act in 2000, exempting derivatives from meaningful regulation.

The Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) actions against Goldman Sachs have sent credit default swap spreads spiraling wider not only for Goldman, but for the entire banking sector, Fitch Solutions said in a release.

First California Mortgage (FCM) of Petaluma said it began originating loans under a new Fannie Mae warehouse pilot program last week — 90% of it coming from loan brokers.

The nation's GSE regulator wants more information about the Federal Home Loan Bank of Seattle's capital restoration plan before it lifts the bank's "undercapitalized" designation.