ABS

Issuance of securities backed by commercial mortgages is in the longest lull in more than 10 years, according to Chris Lau, an analyst at Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC's RBC Greenwich Capital.

Baker & McKenzie announced the formation of its new covered bond group, which will be headed by Richard Rudder, the law firm’s global co-head of securitization and partner.

Investors sued Wachovia Corp. and its affiliates on Monday, charging them with causing losses by incorrectly valuing shares of a now-defunct bond fund and making risky investments in the fund.

Fannie Mae yesterday releaseda statement (Announcement 08-18) detailing another change in its calculation of upfront guarantee fees and the adverse delivery charge.

Triad Guaranty, Winston-Salem, N.C., has reported a net loss of $198.2 million ($13.36 per share) for the second quarter, compared with net income of $12.0 million ($0.80 per share) a year earlier.

Deutsche Bank has combined its ABS and its capital management divisions, according to published reports.

HSBC Holdings announced further cuts in its U.S. consumer finance business and said a steep loss from North American operations again undermined strong performance elsewhere in the first half.

The board of directors of the European Securitization Forum (ESF) has elected its new leadership for 2008 and 2009.

Lehman Brothers and JPMorgan Securities analysts reviewed the outlook for net issuance for the remainder of the year in this week's research.

Deutsche Bank AG took 2.3 billion euros ($3.6 billion) in residential mortgage-backed securities writedowns during the second quarter but generated a net profit of 645 million euros.

IndyMac Bancorp, the holding company for the failed thrift, filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection last week.

The American Securitization Forum (ASF) warned that the scope of proposed rules the prohibit certain existing practices regarding consumer credit card accounts will have the negative and unintended consequences of decreasing investment in credit card ABS.

President George W. Bush signed the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 last week. The event is remarkable in many ways.

Having spent years without seeing a dime for certain services rendered, Brazil's Construtora Andrade Gutierrez (AG) has gone ahead and securitized those payment flows.

The story remains the same in Europe. Much of what little public ABS deal flow there is continues to be retained for European Central Bank eligibility.

Greece launched its inaugural covered bonds earlier this month via the Ä8 billion program by Alpha Bank.

The July remittance reports offered no surprises, staying true to analyst expectations of further credit performance deterioration.

The International Organization of Securities Commission (IOSCO) announced last week a three-point plan to monitor compliance of its new code of conduct for credit rating agencies (CRAs). This was done amid charges that its proposed plan will do little to restore market confidence in ratings.

Last week, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and a consortium of leading banks echoed what many investors have been considering for months now - the potential liquidity benefits of a growing covered bond market.

With the U.S. population growing older and baby boomers hitting retirement age, life settlement plans are likely to see a boost in the coming years. These plans allow life insurance policyholders to sell their existing policies on a secondary market for a negotiated cash amount that is more than the cash value of the policy but less than the net death benefit. This has industry participants forecasting substantial growth in the sector and searching for opportunities to expand their platforms, even into in the capital markets.