Securitization

The Senate late Thursday approved an amendment to restore the $729,750 maximum loan limit on government-back mortgages for two more years.

The credit quality of CMBS loans appears to be slipping a bit, according to a Moody's Investors Service report Friday.

After a significant slow down following the economic turmoil in August, CLO issuance is poised to pick up again as the loan market stabilizes, sources said. Indeed, the pipeline has even continued to grow despite the fact that a number of deals stalled over the summer.

The backdrop of this week's mortgage activity continued to be about the European Union and refi.gov.

Halifax Bank of Scotland is in the market with a new deal from its Permanent Master Trust program.

Barclays Capital has made several appointments to its U.S. CMBS team.

FCT Ginkgo Sales Finance has issued a EUR 681.3 Million of French Consumer loan ABS.

Rising foreign investment flows into U.S. commercial real estate bode well for the CMBS sector, said Standard & Poor’s in a release.

Citigroup’s tender for the equity income notes issued by Skytop CLO resulted in it acquiring 46.77% of the $31 million of this class of securities outstanding.

Freddie Mac economists are expecting a surge in refinancings during the fourth quarter and recently increased their origination forecast for the period by nearly 70%.

Bank of America said it is receiving more buyback requests for older vintages of loans from Fannie Mae and plans to contest some of these claims regarding breaches of representations and warranties.

Striking a rare note of optimism in the structured finance market, Clayton Holdings is starting up a securitization group to help the private market prepare for the return of non-agency RMBS, the consultancy said in a release.

Reinstating trust in the ratings process is key to growing investor interest, according to buyside participants in a Tuesday panel at the ABS East conference hosted by Information Management Network.

At Information Management Network’s ABS East conference, the panelists who opened up the discussion Tuesday delivered a somber assessment of the economy.

The Collingwood Group hired Ray Romano as senior advisor, working with the firm to focus on risk management for consumer and multifamily mortgage products.

Fannie Mae's recently priced $577 million multifamily DUS REMIC highlights moves the agency is making to court an agency CMBS investor base that appears to be broadening as activity has subsided somewhat in the CMBS conduit market.

Assured Guaranty has sued DLJ Mortgage Capital and Credit Suisse, claiming breach of contract over $1.8 billion of MBS it insured.

Interactive Mortgage Advisors (IMA), Denver, is auctioning off a $57 million portfolio of bulk servicing rights for an undisclosed seller.

UBS Commercial Mortgage Securitization Corp. has filed a form S-3 with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to issue a CMBS transaction, according to filing made yesterday

CitiMortgage and the Department of Housing and Urban Development's Office of Inspector General (OIG) are at loggerheads over the proper way to vet at-risk borrowers for the Federal Housing Administration's (FHA) short sales program.