ABS

GMAC Financial Services has forced out six managers in the servicing division of Residential Capital Corp. (ResCap) as part of a belt-tightening effort at the company.

Manager Activity: Autos Book Runner Amount (US$ Mil) Rank Mkt.

Freddie Mac will stop purchasing and securitizing interest only mortgages.

A report released Thursday by the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) forecasts a "two-speed" banking system to come, with major banks in developed countries, and especially the U.S., stuck in low gear.

There was a lot of continuing talk last week about signs of a coming "bottoming out" and eventual "recovery" in housing, but a risk to that forecast is that temporary government aid may be responsible for it.

February remittance reports — representing the January collection period — showed an early sign that the trend of REO stock dipping experienced nationwide might have reversed, according to Barclays Capital analysts.

House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank said hearing on GSE restructuring has been rescheduled to March 23.

McCarter & English appointed Jonathan Guest as a partner in the Boston office’s corporate, securities and financial institutions group.

Mitsubishi Motors Credit of America is in the market with an auto loan deal. Barclays Capital is the lead manager on the $212 million deal.

Goodwin Procter hired Loretta Lau as a corporate finance partner in its business law department.

Fixed rate mortgages rose in the week ending Feb. 25 as rates backed up last week through Monday in response to adverse economic news, such as last week's Producer Price Index.

The Commercial Mortgage Securities Association (CMSA) today provided Committee Chairman Chris Dodd and Ranking Member Richard Shelby with a letter that urges members to ensure that any regulatory reform bill takes into account the unique nature of commercial real estate finance.

BlackBox Logic, a data aggregation service firm that provides a comprehensive database of loan-level collateral underlying non-agency RMBS, have teamed up with two RMBS research organizations, Columbia Business School and Five Bridges Advisors.

Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) leaders speaking at the opening session of this year's national servicing conference in San Diego said that current challenges are resulting in a greater spirit of cooperation within the industry and with the government that will continue throughout the year.

Knight Capital Group has hired a new sales and trading team as the firm continues to expand its optional institutional client capabilities with a listed derivatives group.

The International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) technical committee has published details on the template for the global collection of hedge fund information.

The European Union's (EU) statistical authority Eurostat said on Wednesday that debt figures provided by the Greek statistical authorities were incomplete and did not include a questionable swap operation. This puts into question the reliability of the Greek deficit.

The New York Federal Reserve rejected five bonds for the February Legacy CMBS TALF subscription period while accepting 51.

SecondMarket, a New York-based secondary market for illiquid assets such as private-label RMBSl and CMBS, has raised $15 million from Asian investors.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) — the U.S. brokerage industry’s main regulator — plans for collecting trading data on ABS and MBS for the Trade Reporting and Compliance Engine (TRACE), according to a Bloomberg report.