Securitization

No conference on Latin American structured finance would be complete without a discussion of diversified payment rights (DPRs), the asset class of electronic money flowing through banks that boasts a default rate lower than triple-A U.S. corporates.

The Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) proposal issued May 18 to implement rules mandated by the Dodd-Frank Act tasks rating agencies with measures most have sought to address, but the proposal's detailed requirements could instead overwhelm smaller agencies.

So far it is largely confined to the auto lending sector. But, given recent history, the natural question is whether subprime - which, strikingly, has kept its old name - could spread and prompt a replay of the financial crisis.

Mortgages are heading into the summer months in good shape technically. Prepayments are also expected to remain benign unless mortgage rates drop substantially lower.

Brazil was a locus of hope for participants at the Securitization and Structured Finance in Latin America (SiLAS) conference organized by Euromoney Seminars and LatinFinance, as the economy keeps growing apace and sectors such as infrastructure and energy, among others, have an enormous appetite for funding.

Vendors anticipated hearing May 27, the Friday after ASR's deadline, whether they could bid on the contract to build and operate a repository to collect and make available data for loans backing European RMBS, a project several steps ahead of a similar effort in the U.S.

In April, Cantor Fitzgerald & Co. came to market with its debut new-issue CMBS transaction that was backed by loans originated by Cantor Commercial Real Estate (CCRE), a real estate financing business formed by Cantor Fitzgerald and CIM Group in August 2010.

Mortgage lenders and consumer advocates — two lobbies usually busy opposing each other — have joined forces to urge regulators to ease up on proposed risk retention requirements, arguing they will result in a credit crunch.

Sharjah Islamic Bank returned to the international Sukuk market for the first time since its 2006 inaugural issuance. The transaction was oversubscribed by more than nine times.The $400 million, fixed-rate Sukuk certificates, which are due in 2016 yielded 4.715% annually. The structure comprises the sale and purchase of non-real-estate-based ijara assets by the trustee, which are then managed by Sharjah Islamic as the trustee's agent and the certificateholders.The Sukuk certificates were assigned a rating of 'BBB+' by Fitch Ratings and 'BBB+' by Standard & Poor’s and were globally distributed with demand from investors in the Middle East, Asia and Europe.Th offering's joint lead managers were HSBC, Standard Chartered Bank and Liquidity House. The co-lead managers were Qatar Islamic Bank, Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank, Qatar First Investment Bank, Dubai Islamic Bank and Al Hilal Bank PJSC. Clifford Chance was the issuing bank's adviser on the deal.

Refinancing waves sparked by falling interest rates have long been a mixed blessing for all involved. The consumer lowers his/her monthly payment, but often pays fees and signs mounds of paperwork. Banks reap profits from originating the new loans, and their salespeople rake in commissions. But banks and mortgage servicers also lose customers in a refi wave. And the investors in mortgage-backed securities get their principal back sooner than expected, and must redeploy it in a lower-rate environment.

Walter Investment Management Corp. closed the private placement of around $81 million of its Class B secured notes issued last Nov. 22 in a deal called Mid-State Capital Trust 2010-1.

The first investor meeting for the largest German multifamily CMBS was held last week.

Daryl Schwartz, the acquisition chief for G8 Capital, a private equity fund that invests in real estate and nonperforming mortgages, left the company last week.

Sometimes in Washington, even bad public relations can be good politics.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) is expected to release its long-awaited proposal on changing servicing compensation by July with three main options being offered to the industry, according to servicing advisors close to the issue.

An eminent domain action this year that a recent Barclays Capital report indicated might hurt certain investors in one CMBS deal was a one-off event that could have been worse. But it is nevertheless is worth noting as it serves as a reminder that this known but rare risk can crop up occasionally.

Home prices in March fell for the eighth consecutive month and reached a new low for this housing recession, according to a new reading on the Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller house price index.

Manager Activity: Autos Book Runner Amount (US$ Mil) Rank Mkt.

Increased supply, both in the primary and secondary markets via BWICs, and weaker market sentiment have pushed spreads wider.

ING closed a CLO for more than $400 million, according to sources. Almost $2 billion in new CLOs have priced in May.