ABS

Mayer Brown has hired three finance partners in order to strengthen its leveraged finance and asset-backed lending platforms as part of growth plans for the London office.

Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd (D-CT) and House Financial Services Chairman Barney Frank (D-MA) sent a letter to the heads of the bank regulatory agencies asking them to address whether banks are inflating the value of second mortgages on their balance sheets thereby discouraging proactive efforts to modify and restructure mortgage loans.

Morgan Stanley launched a $250 million intellectual property securitization for Vertex Pharmaceuticals — a U.S. biotech company — where investors would be repaid from contractual milestone payments on a drug still in development, according to published reports.

Standard Life Investments appointed Eric Roberts head of institutional sales (U.S.), the firm said in today's release.

Conduit Capital Markets appointed Paul Blake as head of fixed income sales, the dealer announced today in a press release.

KfW Bankengruppe, the German government owned development bank said it is well position to resume capital market activities in the second half of 2009 and said that simply structured securitizations will still be important for the credit supply of small and medium sized businesses or SME’s.

The Office of Comptroller of the Currency is rewriting the rule laying out its visitorial powers of national banks following the Supreme Court's criticism of the agency's 2004 regulation.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said Friday that the administration would propose broad parameters for standardizing derivatives contracts that are traded over the counter, a move that could bring a large portion of them onto central clearing platforms and regulated exchanges.

The U.K. Parliament’s amendment to its Banking Act 2009 that now restricts the power to modify trust arrangements involved in failing banks sheds some clarity that proves beneficial to structured finance, said analysts at Moody’s Investors Service.

A group of investors have recently purchased a controlling interest in CRT Capital Group, Stamford, Conn., and say they plan to focus the firm on mortgage/asset-backed products and U.S. Treasuries going forward.

In what is believed to be one of the largest government auctions of mortgage servicing rights in quite some time, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. is offering a $1 billion package of residential receivables that belonged to the now defunct Franklin Bank S.S.B. of Houston.

The Committee of European Securities Regulators (CESR) will today publish its final report and feedback statement on the transparency of corporate bond, structured finance product and credit derivatives markets.

The Bank of England’s monetary policy committee voted to continue with its program of asset purchases totalling £125 billion ($202 billion) financed by the issuance of central bank reserves.

When the average person hears the words deep discount, a smile is likely to appear. But when a CLO manager hears those words, it can cause them to shiver. That’s because so-called deep-discounted loan substitutions are a huge problem for CLO managers, though some firms and industry organizations have been working to change that by raising awareness on the issue. And they now say they are making progress.

New York-based Primus Asset Management has acquired CypressTree Investment Management, a Boston-based investment management firm focused leveraged loans and high yield bonds.

Morrison & Foerster hired Jerry Marlatt to the firm’s capital markets group. Marlatt is a recognized securitization lawyer and one of the leading experts in covered bonds.

Releasing its first five-year strategic plan, the Federal Housing Finance Agency said Thursday that the conservatorship of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac "represents a serious challenge to the agency," but gave no outline for how the government-sponsored enterprises might be resolved.

New York-based investment management firm Fir Tree closed Fir Tree Mortgage Opportunity Fund (“MOF”), a limited term opportunity fund that totals around $400 million in capital and commitments.

The Information Management Network's 15th Annual ABS East conference has been moved to Oct. 25 to Oct. 27.

Details of the Public-Private Investment Program (PPIP) still leave a number of questions unanswered.