ABS

CastleOak Securities plans to add a high yield team and hopes to get the group up and running as soon as possible, according to President and CEO David Jones.

U.K. law firm Ashurst announced that a team of 10 partners will be joining the firm's new offices in New York and Washington. The partners all come from McKee Nelson.

Markit launched the first multi-bank, cross-asset client valuations platform. The initiative was first announced in February last year.

Ambac Financial Group this morning reported a fourth quarter net loss of $2.34 billion in 2008, which compares to a $3.27 billion fourth quarter net loss in 2007.

The Irish Exporters Association (IEA) warned that many exporters have now reached a critical point in their cash flow management, as credit insurance underwriters have cancelled or substantially reduced the credit cover extended to them in Ireland.

Moody's Investors Service has tweaked the way it devises its financial strength rating to gauge if banks will need a bailout.

U.S. home prices slid further down in December, concluding a quarter that saw an 18.2% drop in home prices from year-ago levels, according to a measure published by Standard & Poor’s.

Bank of America has decided to combine the wholesale and correspondent lending divisions of Countrywide Home Loans into one unit, placing executive Doug Jones in charge of both.

Interactive Data Corp. said its fixed-income analytics business has released a new application programing interface (API) for its BondEdge offering.

The U.K. government is set to disclose further details on a scheme to stem the rising tide of repossessions.

Fitch Ratings said today that approximately 30% of all repossessions in the U.K. in 2008 came from defaults of nonconforming borrowers, even though the sector only comprised under 10% of the entire U.K. mortgage market.

DLA Piper UK 's finance and projects group has hired Costanza Russo, who is also an expert in securitization, as a partner based in the firm's London office.

Mission Capital Advisors hired Chad Coluccio as a managing director in its New York office.

Friedman, Billings, Ramsey Group, a real estate investment trust headquartered in Arlington, Va., is changing its name to Arlington Asset Investment Corp.

The National Association of Mortgage Brokers (NAMB) has filed suit against the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) to block implementation of a new GSE appraisal rule, claiming it could put brokers out of business and allow appraisal management firms to profit at the expense of independent appraisers and consumers.

Beacon Capital Markets, which operates a marketplace dedicated to providing liquidity and electronic trading in the MBS market, expanded its sales team with the hiring of four professionals.

Hannover Re announced today that the acquisition of the ING individual life reinsurance business from the Scottish Re Group — which was first announced at the end of January — has been completed.

Northern Rock said that it plans to increase mortgage lending by up to £14 billion ($20.4 billion) over the next two years.

Regulators from the U.S., the U.K. and Europe are in talks, trying to coordinate how they would regulate the credit default swap market.

Manager Activity: AutosFull Credit to Book (Equal if Joint) U.S. Public ABS Market/144A Market