ABS

BNP Paribas appointed Adam Brodnicki and Andrew Miller directors in the New York fixed-income team.

Mark Watson has left Citigroup after 22 years in the firm, according to an internal memo seen by Financial News.

The former co-heads of Citigroup fixed income Randy Barker and Geoff Coley are in the very early stages of planning a hedge fund, according to a Reuters report that cites people familiar with the matter.

Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe has hired Howard Altarescu as a partner in its structured finance practice in New York.

Wall Street banks continue to slash headcount, with the latest cuts reportedly coming from Citigroup and Goldman Sachs.

Dexia will provide a $5 billion committed, unsecured standby line of credit to Financial Security Assurance’s (FSA) financial products segment, according to today’s company release.

Guggenheim Capital Markets, New York-based subsidiary of Guggenheim Partners, has added a whole loan group to further expand its specialized fixed-income capabilities, according to today’s company release.

GMAC-RFC's Australian nonconforming branch, Capital First is looking to conduct a strategic review of its operations and has consequently ceased accepting new business,according to market reports. GMAC bought 25% of Capital First in 2005 and took full ownership in 2006.

Recognizing that no homeowner should lose his or her home while experiencing financial hardship and considering the impending problems in the mortgage sector, HOPE NOW, the largest alliance of lenders, servicers, investors and counselors, has taken the necessary steps to prevent home foreclosures by establishing a uniform set of procedures and guidelines for all of its servicer members.

The supply/demand technicals in the MBS market currently appear to be relatively stable.

Many financial institutions, including M&T Bank Corp., got burned by the CDO market's collapse resulting from the crumbling of subprime mortgages.

Community Reinvestment Fund saw its most recent private placement transform into its largest security offering to date. The demand for CRF-19, which priced on June 15, indicates this form of socially responsible investment hasn't fallen by the wayside in the dour economic environment.

When is the Federal Reserve's hand going to be forced on inflation? That was the question that was fueling early week action in the markets last week. On Monday, the tone was the Fed would be increasing rates rather soon. However, an article on Tuesday in The Wall Street Journal said maybe it will not be so soon. The resulting action in Treasurys was a sell-off on Monday with the curve holding flatter, then rallying on Tuesday and Wednesday with the curve steepening.

While issuance has slowed in virtually every sector of the credit markets, time-share securitizations remain relatively untouched by investor hesitation and the credit crunch, according to market participants, who noted that deal flow has been the same, if it has not increased, over the last six months.

Since the onset of financial market turmoil in August 2007, the European Central Bank (ECB), in line with other major central banks, has significantly expanded its term liquidity management operations.

Almost one year after the rating agencies had their first bloodbath of structured finance downgrades, and after months of market outcry for increased transparency and further ratings oversight, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has responded with an initial set of regulations. But while further ratings disclosure is needed, market pundits agree that these reforms do not solve the root of the problem.

Banco de Credito del Peru (BCP), a pro in the future flows world, is poised to price a deal backed by diversified payment rights (DPRs) shortly. Two of its peers that have yet to tap this market, BBVA Banco Continental and Interbank Peru, are reportedly planning debuts. Why this spark of activity from Peru?

Trading in the ABS market was steady last week as new issuance continued at a steady pace via credit card and auto transactions.

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

Fitch Ratings has been carefully tracking for the last several days last month’s interest shortfalls on certain subprime deals serviced by Ocwen Financial Corp.