Securitization

What was billed as a relatively small exception to a risk retention rule is now in danger of becoming so big it may render the regulation nearly useless.

Credit card customers are the happiest they've been since the financial crisis, thanks in part to a government crackdown on the card industry.

Bond insurer CIFG Assurance sued Goldman Sachs and M&T Bank Tuesday for fraud and breach of contract involving its commitment to guarantee $275 million of MBS.

Freddie Mac reported new record lows across fixed- and adjustable-rate mortgages for the week ending Aug. 18 on the flight to quality rally based on worries related to global growth and European Union debt.

Democratic Rep. Gary Ackerman plans to introduce legislation aimed at jumpstarting the housing market by providing two new enticements to homebuyers.

During a downturn, consumers are much more likely to use — and to repay — general-purpose credit cards than retail cards, and pretty much every major retail issuer tried to bail out of the business at some point over the last few years.

Markit has teamed up with the Depository Trust & Clearing Corp. (DTCC) to boost the secondary market for leveraged loans by providing simultaneous transfer of cash and loan assets.

Close to 96% of the non-agency RMBS that were either traded/offered over the past month had a National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) 'NAIC 1' rating, according to a report from Amherst Securities Group (ASG).

The bankruptcy court signed off on Lehman Brothers Holdings’ plan to generate as much as $2 billion for creditors by securitizing a portfolio of commercial loans.

Lewtan appointed Salil Donde as chief executive officer. Donde joins Lewtan from Marshall & Swift/Boeckh, a provider of essential property information solutions.

The number of private student loans defaulting in 2Q11 increased by 5% from 1Q11, according to the Moody's Investors Service Private Student Loan Indices.

Atlanta-based SunTrust Banks said C.T. Hill, its corporate executive vice president and head of consumer banking and mortgage, would now have his primary focus on the company's mortgage business.

Bank of America Corp. may settle a state and federal probe of foreclosure practices in a deal that allows New York to proceed with an inquiry into securitizations, said a Bloomberg report citing two people with direct knowledge of the talks.

Avis Budget Rental Car Funding (AESOP) is in the market with a $300 144A deal called Avis Budget Series 2011-5.

Mortgage application activity increased a modest 4.1% in the week ending Aug. 12 despite further declines in mortgage rates, reported the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) this morning.

The Knights of Columbus late Tuesday said in a press release that it has expanded a case against the Bank of New York as trustee for 18 RMBS trusts originally issued by Countrywide with additional claims of breach of contract, among other things.

The list of objections to the risk retention proposal appears endless.

Citigroup has acquired the management responsibilities for four CLOs from DiMaio Ahmad Capital (DA Capital) for an undisclosed sum.

Eight MBS lawsuits filed against Countrywide Financial Corp., now a subsidiary of Bank of America Corp., have been consolidated into one case in California.

Conventional refinance mortgage application numbers affected by low rates during last week's market volatility are expected to come in roughly around 20% lower than they were when the Mortgage Bankers Association's application index hit its peak last year, according to a Credit Suisse report Monday.