ABS

National City Corp. swung to a second-quarter loss as credit losses continued to surge. The company, which sees lower credit-loss provisions in the second half of the year, said it is the best-capitalized bank among its peer group.

The House voted yesterday to pass a massive housing reform package that extends a lifeline to beleaguered mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and is laden with tax-exempt bond provisions, including the elimination of the alternative minimum tax for housing bonds.

GMAC Financial yesterday named Thomas Marano as ResCap’s chairman and chief executive officer, effective immediately.

A compromise housing bill emerged late Tuesday that finally appears to bridge the gap between House and Senate banking leaders.

Assured Guaranty yesterday sought to reassure investors about its future, while market participants considered the possibility of a municipal market with no more bond insurers rated triple-A by all three major rating agencies. This came one day after Moody’s Investors Service announced it had put both Assured Guaranty Corp. and Financial Security Assurance on watch for possible downgrade.

Avon, Conn.-based Structured Finance Advisors (SFA), which has been an investor in the ABS and MBS sectors since 1993, is teaming up with two commercial mortgage veterans to set up a fund that will take advantage of the current lack of market liquidity in the sector, according to Joe Lorusso, president at the firm.

General Motors Corp. and Ford Motor Co. have about a 46% chance of default within five years, according to Bloomberg .

Jonathan Kempner, president and chief executive officer of the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA), will be stepping down on Dec 31, according to an MBA release.

Wachovia reported a second quarter net loss of $8.9 billion today, and, consequently,will exit its general bank wholesale mortgage origination channel.

The Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO) reported that home prices slipped a seasonally adjusted 0.3% in May. This is an improvement from April's 0.8% decline. Year over year, prices are down 4.8%.

Mark Tonnesen resigned as president, chief executive officer, and director of last week.

Legacy Benefits has named Mark Hirshorn to head its capital market efforts, according to yesterday’s release.

Moody's Investors Service late Monday put the ratings of triple-A bond insurers Financial Security Assurance and Assured Guaranty Corp. on review for possible downgrade.

Prospect Mortgage’s acquisition of the majority of IndyMac's retail mortgage branches is scheduled to close on Aug. 7 despite IndyMac's current troubles, according to yesterday’s Prospect release.

Fortress Investment Group has invested an extra $200 million into its fund for buying distressed triple-A-rated RMBS, according to published reports.

Something happened last week that should have boosted leveraged loan primary issuance - or at the very least been a catalyst for change. It was the launch of a $7 billion structured investment vehicle (SIV), a deal led by Goldman Sachs.

Spanish bank Santander confirmed a GBP1.3 billion proposed takeover of U.K. lender Alliance & Leicester last week. The proposed deal would give A&L a bigger financial platform that should bode well for the two securitization programs it has outstanding.

The financial guarantor industry is still holding on after nearly a year of downgrades, write-downs, litigation and stagnant new issuance. While some have stopped writing new business altogether, others are taking advantage of the challenging economic environment.

It's lonely out there for Kazakh MBS 07. The only public existing asset deal from the country, it popped out mere months before the liquidity crisis made pricing untenale for originators.

The European Securitization Forum (ESF) and the Securities and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA) hosted a seminar last week investigating the explosion in U.S. subprime litigation and what implication it had for European market participants.