Securitization

Italian bank UniCredit SpA yesterday priced its €1 billion, 10-year covered bond at 215 basis points over midswaps, according to Dow Jones report.

ABS investors have concluded, according to a report released by Barclays Capital analysts today, that regardless of a rating action or lack thereof by Standard & Poor's, the FFELP student loan asset class is still fundamentally strong.

Investors looking to block the $8.5 billion settlement of claims related to losses on Bank of America MBS have moved the case to federal court, a Reuters report indicated.

The August remittance reports showed default rates at 9.4, 9.7, 10.5, and 11.0% CDR for the 06-1 through 07-2 indices. These, according to Bank of America Merrill Lynch analysts, represent changes of -0.5, -1.5, -0.7, and +0.3 points, respectively.

There is an increased likelihood of a government action to spur refinancings, JPMorgan Securities analysts noted in a report released yesterday.

3Point Asset Management, Irvine, Calif., has hired Ron Millar as AVP in charge of sales and trading.

The outlook for U.S. CMBS is set to look a lot less hefty in the next year as the number of loans coming due will drop by 40%, according to a Fitch Ratings report.

Warren Buffett's $5 billion public vote of confidence in Bank of America, happily for him, does not require actual confidence. The terms of the legendary investor's deal, which grants Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway $5 billion in perpetual preferred stock and warrants to buy BofA stock at just over $7 a share, include no lockup period.

Senator Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., is pressing the GSE regulator to adopt several changes to the Home Affordable Refinancing Program (HARP), allowing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to refinance more underwater borrowers.

Echoing views from a previous article published by ASR, Moody's Investor Service said today that performance has stayed strong across all U.S. auto loan ABS types since mid-2009.

Freddie Mac purchased $21.7 billion of mortgages from its seller/servicers in July, its worst acquisition month of the year and only about half of what it bought in January.

The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) is being inundated by member complaints about the Federal Housing Administration's (FHA) policy decision to extend the forbearance period for unemployed homeowners to 12 months.

A roughly seven basis point increase in 30-year weekly rates and gains in bond yields from recent record lows could dampen refinancing applications a bit unless they motivate a significant group of fence-sitting borrowers to act.

JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo have reportedly made final bids to purchase $4.52 billion of performing loans from Anglo Irish Bank Corp.’s $9.65 billion portfolio of U.S. commercial real estate, according to a Bloomberg report.

Paper company Sappi has implemented its three-year €360 million ($517.3 million) trade receivables securitization program for its non-South African businesses.

American Realty Capital Properties (ARCP), New York, said it expects its initial public offering to close on Sept. 6, with trading of the company's common stock to start the following day on the NASDAQ Capital Market, that exchange's tier for small cap stocks.

Two new Japanese credit card receivable securitizations that total of JPY4 billion ($52 million) are in the market.

Sales of homes that were in some stage of foreclosure or bank-owned status accounted for 31% of all residential transactions in the second quarter, a slight decline from 1Q11, according to new figures released by RealtyTrac.

In an ironic twist, the commercial banking industry is coming to the defense of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).

The recent sell-off pushed mortgage rates higher by seven to eight basis points for the week ending Aug. 25.