ABS

Bingham McCutchen hired Martin Teckler to its structured transactions practice group as a Washington-based of counsel.

Linklaters launched its structured finance practice in Amsterdam by hiring Kees Westermann, who will head up the new practice.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) began its courting of pension funds interested in buying assets of distressed bank holding companies.

The U.S. Treasury said today that there should be no uncertainty about its commitment to the GSEs and said Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac continue to play a vital role in the housing market in the current crisis.

The budget tabled yesterday by the Canadian government promised to create a legal framework for Canadian covered bonds.

GMAC Financial Services has auctioned off $250 million of problem mortgage assets, using Citigroup as its broker on the deal.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC), in an effort to get rid of residential and construction loan assets from failed banks, has priced two note offerings totaling $1.8 billion to "robust market demand," according to a source familiar with the transaction.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) is planning to extend its "safe harbor" policy past March 31 while the board of directors continues to work on new securitization standards.

The market focus in Europe is now on the first true U.K. RMBS since the 2007 issue from Santander U.K., FOSSE 2010-1. The deal priced and closed today.

The Term ABS Loan Facility (TALF) is scheduled to close on March 31 for loans backed by all types of collateral except newly issued CMBS. The program will be ending on June 30 for loans backed by newly issued CMBS.

Steve Abrahams has been named the head of Deutsche Bank Securities securitization and MBS research.

Student loan lender Nelnet is in the market with a $660 million FFELP-backed asset-backed transaction.

Nissan Motor Corp. filed an S-3 registration yesterday with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to issue an ABS deal under its Nissan Auto Receivables Owner Trust.

The 30-day delinquency rate on securitized multifamily mortgages hit 9.87% in February, up 16 basis points from January, according to Trepp.

Stifel, Nicolaus & Co. has further developed its “full-service capital markets platform” with the creation of an asset management and portfolio advisory division, the St. Louis, Mo.-based institutional brokerage and investment-banking firm said yesterday.

Greece looks serious about resolving its financial crisis on its own. Yesterday the country announced fiscal measures to reign in the mountain of rising debt its so crucially needs to control.

One of Fannie Mae's new loan-quality guidelines goes against the grain of traditional mathematics teaching.

The aggregate value of CRE loans priced by DebtX that back CMBS rose to 76.7% as of Jan. 29, up from 75.9% as of Dec. 31. Loan values dipped from 81.3% compared with January 2009.

Yesterday, the Federal Reserve proposed a rule amending Regulation Z or the Truth in Lending Act.

Lender Processing Services opened its Washington, D.C. office. This gives LPS the ability to pursue opportunities with new government partners.