ABS

Despite final rules published last month, banks running ABCP conduits are continuing discussions with regulators in an effort to temper new capital rules they say could shift assets to non-U.S. banks and potentially reduce what has been a successful short-term funding source for U.S. companies.

At the onset of the credit crisis, market participants expected a wave of consolidation in the CLO market. The wave turned out to be little more than a ripple, with less than 5% of the CLO market making management changes during the last year and a half, according to analysts at Citigroup Global Markets.

Reports last week surfaced that the Treasury Department is contemplating changes to the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP), which has been widely criticized for being ineffective.

Auto loan ABS might be coming down the Colombian pike this year for the first time, thanks to an appetite for alternative funding sources and a new law authorizing the establishment of non-mortgage securitizers.

With the boxes stacked up against the securitization market’s survival, industry players have to play a careful balancing act: How to make the case for the future but still survive in the current hostile environment?

GMAC Mexicana is on the road with the country's first pure auto loan ABS in the public market, according to sources. Tipping the scales at about Ps1.4 billion ($109 million), the A note will appeal to private banking clients for its short average life of 1.4 years, said a source close to the deal. "It makes a lot of sense to pitch it to private banking," he added. That will likely be one of the areas in which joint leads HSBC and Citigroup brokerage Acciones y Valores will be focusing their efforts during a roadshow that kicks off the week of March 1. HSBC structured the transaction as well.

Sovereign risk" are the words driving pricing in the European securitization market as the troubles in Greece unfold.

CLO managers don't want the exit doors closed on them.

The analysis of the changes in the GSEs' delinquent loan buyout policies focused on their impact on prepayment speeds and coupon swaps. An underlying notion was that the implementation of FAS 166 and 167 by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which took place effective at the beginning of 2010, paved the way for the announcement; since the loans are now carried on their books at fair value, buyouts no longer have any affect on the GSEs' income statements.

On Feb. 10, Freddie Mac made an unexpected announcement that it would "purchase substantially all 120 days or more delinquent mortgage loans from the company's related fixed-rate and adjustable-rate (ARM) mortgage Participation Certificate (PC) securities."

With new accounting rules, regulatory uncertainty, and wary investors making ABS uneconomical for issuers, pockets of the securitization market are paralyzed. Participants are forced to look at alternative funding sources, which Nora Colomer explores in this month's cover story.

What a difference a year, or three, makes.

Fannie Mae said Friday that many mortgage lenders are not complying with the most basic underwriting guidelines, such as confirming a borrower's identity or verifying a Social Security number.

European CMBS loan maturities in March and April will lead to a rise in the number of loans that are now in a standstill or going through a workout process, according to Fitch Ratings.

The Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA) now carries price data for around 25,000 federal agency bonds on its investinginbonds.com Web site.

Donald Kohn, the vice chairman of the Federal Reserve, will step down from the post when his term ends in June, according to a report from The Wall Street Journal.

A Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) plan to restrict securitizations is drawing intense opposition from bankers, who claim it would damage the secondary market.

Moody's Investors Service will be publishing its estimates for recoveries on most of the RMBS it rated that were issued in the 2005 to 2008 period.

CIT Financial is in the market with a $667.3 million equipment lease-backed deal lead by Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Barclays Capital and Deutsche Bank Securities. The CIT deal is Term ABS Loan Facility (TALF)-eligible.

A prime RMBS deal was announced in Europe this week — Alliance & Leicester’s £1 billion ($1.54 billion) offering backed by U.K. mortgages. Alliance is Spanish bank Santander's U.K. unit.