ABS

For the first time, the U.K. buy-to-let sector is experiencing a recession with falling house prices and rising unemployment.

Attorney General Richard Blumenthal released a letter calling on the U.S. Department of Treasury to intervene in the Federal Reserve bailout program that gives the Big Three credit rating agencies — Moody's Investors Service, Fitch Ratings and Standard & Poor's — the exclusive right to rate securities eligible for the Federal Reserve's Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility (TALF). This cuts out smaller competitors who can also do the work.

The Treasury Department is reopening its Capital Purchase Program (CPP) for six months so small banks can get another shot of capital and increase their lending capacity.

Eighteen financial institutions have jointly sued MBIA over splitting its business in earlier this year, according to report from Dow Jones.

Mortgages from 2006 and 2007 emerge as problem loans.

LAS VEGAS -- Private-equity-backed companies with strong credit profiles are generally on the sidelines of the financing markets, hoping that the continuing stabilization of the credit markets will save them money on refinancing transactions.

Sallie Mae or SLM Corp. issued a statement in response to a Moody’s Investors Service downgrade of its long-term and short-term unsecured debt.

Fitch Ratings said that the performance of U.K. nonconforming RMBS continues to deteriorate, with higher loss levels being the key driver behind negative rating action on these deals.

Commercial and multifamily mortgage loan originations continued to drop in the first quarter of 2009, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association's (MBA) Quarterly Survey of Commercial/Multifamily Mortgage Bankers Originations.

Freddie Mac's guaranteed loan portfolio is becoming more vulnerable to defaults due to a growing number of single-family mortgages with high loan-to-value ratios.

As anticipated, mortgage application activity remained unresponsive to historically attractive mortgage rate levels for the week ending May 8.

Germany has approved its draft bill that aims to help banks transfer structured securities, such as ABS and CDOs, to a government-backed unit on a voluntary basis.

The chairman of the U.K. Financial Services Authority (FSA) Lord Turner said that the FSA’s detailed analysis of the mortgage market was highlighting a very complex situation where the FSA had to take account of short-term trends as well as design the appropriate long-term policy. These remarks were made at at the FSA’s mortgage conference held yesterday

The Board of Directors of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) has appointed Diego Devos as general counsel.

Advanta Corp.'s decision to let its securitization funding vehicle unwind and stop lending to account holders could unsettle a market for credit card-backed securities that has just started to rebound.

Rabobank announced that it plans to tender for the Classes B, C, D and E of the Skyline 2007 CMBS deal.

Chase is in the market with two credit card deals — Chase Issuance Trust Class B (2009-1) and Chase Issuance Trust Class C (2009-2) Notes via JPMorgan Securities.

Paramax Capital Partners (Paramax) and Maria Fiorini Ramirez (MFR) have forned a new partnership to target investment opportunities arising from the U.S. Treasury’s Public-Private Investment Programs (PPIP).

The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) will ask Congress for expanded commitment authority for Ginnie Mae and the Federal Housing Administration single-family program, allowing the government to insure up to $400 billion of new mortgages in fiscal 2010.

Advanta Corp.'s board of directors has approved a plan designed to significantly limit the credit card company’s credit loss exposure as well as maximize its capital and its liquidity measures.