ABS

Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA) announced the launch of its European Covered Bond Dealers Association (ECBDA).

The U.S. Department of the Treasury and the Federal Reserve announced last Tuesday a program meant to inject liquidity into the beleaguered financial system.

In a market where financial institutions are scrambling to shore up capital with asset sales, firms that facilitate these transactions successfully are poised to emerge from the recession with deeper pockets.

The fallout in the ABS and MBS markets has triggered the development of a new trend: structured finance professionals lending their expertise to asset management shops.

Despite the lack of new deal flow, rating agencies are hard at work making improvements to their evaluation processes in hope of luring back investor confidence and restarting new issuance.

November remittance reports showed continuing performance deterioration, which was largely expected by Street analysts, though still dramatic.

The CMBS market experienced what analysts called a meltdown recently, as super senior triple-A paper saw a significant fall in price.

The market was in brighter spirits before the Thanksgiving holiday, as ABS market participants quite fittingly gave thanks to U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, who rolled out a Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility (TALF) under which The Federal Reserve Bank of New York will establish a $200 billion one-year, non-recourse lending facility for newly or recently originated triple-A rated consumer ABS (see story p. 16). This covers auto, credit card, student loans and small business loans that are guaranteed by the U.S. Small Business Administration.

November remittance reports showed a continuing performance deterioration, which was largely expected by Street analysts.

Troubled by the persistently high cost of funding for the GSEs, the Federal Reserve Board said Tuesday it would begin purchasing the debt of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Federal Home Loan Banks next week.

Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA) announced the launch of its European Covered Bond Dealers Association (ECBDA).

Moody's Investors Service just started a cross-financial sector publication called Moody’s Credit Card Statement that features articles written by the rating agency's structured finance, banking, and retail analysts.

Mission Capital Advisors is now accepting bids for a portfolio of subperforming and nonperforming commercial mortgage loans, secured by various commercial real estate and business assets in the greater Chicago Metro area and various towns in Indiana, with a balance of more than $50.3 million.

Zetabid, a firm focusing on U.S. home auctions, hired Christopher Connelly as senior managing director of Zetabid.

Collins Financial Services USA, a purchaser, collector and reseller of charged-off consumer debt, announced today that it has received debt financing from LBC Credit Partners, a mezzanine fund that provides privately negotiated loans to middle market businesses.

Morgan Keegan & Co., a Memphis unit of Regions Financial Corp., is expanding its fixed-income capital markets division beyond its traditional market in the Southeast.

CWCapital Investments (CWCI) announced the hire of Hugh Hall as managing director. Hall was a founder of Gramercy Capital Corp. and served as chief operating officer until its merger with American Financial Realty Trust in April 2008. He began his career at career at Cadwalader, Wickersham and Taft and Credit Suisse, and has over fourteen years of experience in the commercial mortgage industry.

The dramatic reversal of fortune for commodity exporters, induced by a plunge in prices and the global liquidity crunch, has altered the terms of financing for a sector that benefited handsomely from the market trends of the last several years.

The European Commission (EC) disclosed its proposal for regulating credit rating agencies, following calls for regulatory oversight of these companies.

Moody's Investors Service's recent lowering of Ambac and MBIAs' ratings to 'Baa1' spurred a massive flow of downgrades.