ABS

Congressional approval for the second $350 billion installment of Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) funds may depend on the Treasury Department's ability to show that banks are actually using their government investment money to make new loans,House Financial Services Committee chairman Barney Frank, D-Mass., said Wednesday.

Genworth Financial, Richmond, Va., now has a definitive agreement to purchase InterBank, Maple Grove, Minn.

GMAC said it could drop its move to become a bank-holding company if more bondholders don't agree to its $38 billion exchange offer.

The Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA) and the American Securitization Forum (ASF) have created a U.S. Covered Bonds Council.

Riviere Servicing, an affiliate of Riviere Securities, LTD and GlobalTech Financial, has entered into a strategic agreement with CSC, a provider of technology-enabled solutions and services.

Ginnie Mae MBS hit $27.1 billion in November, which marks the second straight month the agency's MBS issuances surpassed government-sponsored enterprises Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has nearly completed a study on mark-to-market accounting and preliminary findings point to the need for additional guidance in valuing MBS in inactive or illiquid markets, according to SEC Chairman Christopher Cox.

Mortgage bankers will foreclose on 8.1 million homes over the next four years, representing 16% of all outstanding residential loans in the U.S., according to a new report issued by Credit Suisse.

Gulf Stream Asset Management said last week that it is establishing a credit dislocation fund and a multi-strategy credit hedge fund.

The financial crisis has exposed the "weaknesses" in the securitization market, Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Chair Sheila Bair said, and it needs to be reformed through a re-alignment of interests to improve the long-term performance of mortgage-backed securities.

After AmeriCredit Corp. came to market with two deals almost back to back, Fitch Ratings last week downgraded the long-term Issuer Default Rating (IDR) of AmeriCredit Corp. (ACF) to 'B' from 'B+'. All ratings remain on Rating Watch Negative. Approximately $750 million of debt is affected by this action.

Federal, state, and industry efforts to prevent foreclosures are swelling the backlog of problem loans.

Fitch Ratings launched a CMBS performance analytics service for EMEA today. The enhanced surveillance pages on the Fitch research Web site now provide advanced EMEA CMBS performance metrics and analysis in a standardized form.

Conventional speeds were predicted to decline about 20% on average from October with GNMAs predicted to be down half as much.

The percentage of homeowners late on their mortgage — or in foreclosure — soared to a new high in the third quarter: 10.27%, according to new figures released today.

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

A recent Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) study showed that the government-insured share of mortgage applications continues to increase compared with their conventional counterparts.

Over Thanksgiving break, Mexico's Metrofinanciera dropped a huge turkey on the laps of its bond investors, roughly Ps4.19 billion ($308.3 million) worth. That's how much the company revealed it owed the financial trusts of its securitized debt as of the end of the third quarter.

Nearly four years after turning in its thrift charter, Ocwen Financial Corp. has reconsidered the merits of federal regulation and has applied to convert to a bank holding company and buy a tiny Texas bank.

The home stretch to 2009 has begun, and ABS market participants appear to have kicked up their heels in hopes that the new year will bring a rebirth in the securitization space.