ABS

Though Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner said Tuesday that reforming the GSEs should not take years to accomplish, a House Financial Services Committee hearing made it clear the issue is unlikely to be addressed anytime soon.

Bank of America will look initially at principal forgiveness — ahead of an interest rate reduction — when modifying certain subprime, pay-option and prime two-year hybrid mortgages qualifying for its National Homeownership Retention Program (NHRP).

The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) proposed a new line of MBS that would be structured with a federally-guaranteed wrap, which would be backed by loan-level guarantees from privately-owned, government-chartered and regulated mortgage credit-guarantor entities.

Mortgage application activity fell 4.2% in the week ending March 19 due to a decline in refinancing activity as mortgage rates backed up.

MF Global Holdings appointed Jon S. Corzine as chairman and chief executive officer effective immediately.

Ramco-Gershenson Properties Trust closed on a new $31.3 million CMBS loan with JPMorgan secured by its West Oaks II shopping center in Novi, Michigan and its Spring Meadows Place center in Holland, Ohio.

Deerfield Capital agreed to buy $1.8 billion in CLO contracts in a deal to acquire an investment manager specializing in leveraged loan credit products, the Chicago-based asset manager announced today.

Charles Schwab filed arguments in a federal court in San Francisco on March 19 to try to preclude the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) from suing it over its YieldPlus fund, which had nearly 50% of its assets in MBS, Bloomberg reports.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch has hired Steve Harris for its mortgage department as managing director in the Americas origination sales. The new hire will be reporting into Michael Hokin, who is head of Americas mortgages and securitized product sales at the bank.

Loan modifications have had little impact on the U.K. mortgage market despite the backing mods have received from the government, according to a Fitch Ratings study.

The Board of Governors of the Commercial Mortgage Securities Association (CMSA) has transformed the association into a new organization that will serve all constituencies within commercial real estate finance. CMSA is now the CRE Finance Council.

Existing home sales fell fractionally in February from the previous month but the housing and mortgage industries received a new dose of bad news Tuesday morning with total inventories rising 9.5% during the month to 3.59 million units.

The Senate Banking Committee approved Chairman Chris Dodd's regulatory reform bill along party lines on Monday, leaving the heavy lifting on the legislation — reaching a bipartisan agreement that could be passed by the full Senate — to be worked out later before the bill can go to the floor.

Lewtan has linked its performance data for over 150,000 bonds with internal analysis on Principia Partners' portfolio management, risk surveillance and compliance platform.

As Congress moves to enact a bill this week that would kill government subsidies for private student lenders, companies that relied on Uncle Sam must dramatically reposition themselves to stay competitive, observers said Monday.

CNH Capital America's equipment-backed ABS, which was upsized to $1.07 billion from $822.5 million, has priced.

American Council of Life Insurers (ACLI) data showed that commercial mortgage lending rose in 4Q09.

The U.K. government last week presented the results of its consultation with the country's credit card issuers regarding the regulation of credit cards.

The European Union (EU) said it wants banks to pay into an emergency wind-up fund to pay for any future crisis in the sector, according to market reports.

Investment management firm Babson Capital Management expanded its offices in the Asia Pacific region by forming an eight-member team to source mezzanine debt and private equity investment opportunities in the region.