ABS

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner's announcement of the revamped Financial Stability Plan proved to be a showstopper during the American Securitization Forum's (ASF) annual industry conference held earlier this month in Las Vegas. But reactions were mixed.

Mortgage spreads firmed up on Wednesday as Treasurys sold off prompted by another round of supply worries. These market jitters resulted from the vague details of President Barack Obama's housing plan.

There are both positive and negative aspects to President Barack Obama's Homeowner Affordability and Stability Plan (HASP) announced on Wednesday last week.

The European Securitization Forum (ESF) released the RMBS Issuer Principles for Transparency and Disclosure last week.

With the onslaught of illiquid assets - particularly displaced MBS and CDO bonds - the development of a market for these securities becomes essential as well as useful not only for the companies that profit from them, but more importantly, the economy as a whole.

Fitch Ratings released its criteria for its structured finance loss severity (LS) rating scale last week. The rating agency said that the new scale was established to complement the existing Long-Term Credit (LTC) ratings for these securities.

Following through on a transformation plan announced last year, MBIA last week said it has restructured its insurance subsidiaries to form a new U.S. public finance-only insurer that will operate separately from its structured finance business.

Financial markets received the Department of the Treasury's latest bank-rescue plan with a resounding thud. The stock market's swoon was generally attributed to the lack of detail in the Financial Stability Plan, announced Feb. 10. After years of perusing plans and initiatives, investors were dismayed to receive a mere skeleton of a plan.

On Feb. 4, Moody's Investors Service revised the methodology it uses to rate CLOs, spurring a rash of CLO downgrades that has yet to end. As a result, CLO managers have begun requesting amendments to their reinvestment periods to relieve the pressure, sources said.

Bank of America Corp. has sold a corporate debt trustee business to Wilmington Trust Corp.

Markit announced that Markit iTraxx dealers have voted to change two rules governing the Markit iTraxx Europe indices in order to make them more reflective of the current economic environment. The new rules will come into effect before next month’s index roll into series 11 on March 20.

One part of the government's Homeowner Affordability and Stability Plan is a $75 billion program targeted at the three to four million at-risk borrowers.

Barclays Capital priced a $1.1 billion auto ABS deal for Nissan Motor Acceptance Corp., NAROT 2009-1. The bank was sole bookrunner and structuring agent.

Mission Capital Advisors hired Jason Cohen as a managing director in the firm's New York office.

The U.K. Banking Bill now being considered by the U.K. Parliament won't affect ratings of structured finance transactions and covered bond programs in the country, Fitch Ratings said last week.

The Financial Accounting Standards Board said Wednesday that it would review fair-value accounting practices.

Obama administration officials have decided to limit refinancings of "underwater" Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac mortgages to a loan-to-value ratio of 105% so the new mortgages can be securitized, according to Federal Housing Finance Agency Director James Lockhart.

The Obama administration announced a larger-than-expected program Wednesday designed to help up to 9 million homeowners avoid foreclosure.

Standard & Poor's has lowered its counterparty credit, financial strength, and financial enhancement ratings on MBIA Insurance Corp. (MBIA) to 'BBB+' from 'AA'. The outlook on MBIA is negative, according to a release from S&P.

Janney added two managing directors to its municipal capital markets group, including one with a specific background in securitization.