Securitization

Mortgage application activity increased 2.7% for the week ending March 18 in response to attractive mortgage rate levels.

Brazilian securitization consultancy Uqbar said in a report that 2010 issuance of CRIs, the main vehicle for real estate securitization in the country, hit R$8.53 billion ($5.1 billion) last year (see chart below). This was more than double the figure for 2009.

Northern Rock said it is launching its first public securitization issue, which is in line with its agreed strategy. This transaction will diversify both the source and term of its funding base, and will be offered to investors in sterling and euros.

Forthcoming regulations could make conventional mortgages more expensive to the wide swath of homebuyers and owners who can't put 20% down, depressing originations and potentially undermining the housing recovery.

The National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) is expected to hit the Street Thursday with an offering of $1.5 billion of NCUA Guaranteed Notes being used to finance the corporate credit union bailout, the first offering in three weeks.

Moody's Investors Service would like to hear from market participants regarding proposed changes to its modeling framework for cash-flow CLOs.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is going to allocate half its budget to supervision and enforcement of consumer protection laws with a strong emphasis on non-bank lenders. "We can't enforce the law only against banks that are the easiest to find," said Elizabeth Warren, the leader of Treasury Department's CFPB implementation team. "Instead, we will build a strong enforcement arm that will for the first time ever put significant federal resources behind ensuring compliance by non-bank financial companies."

Commercial real estate services company Grubb & Ellis has hired JMP Securities as an advisor to explore strategic alternatives for the company, including a sale or merger.

Kondaur Capital Corp., which a month ago slashed its loan workout staff by almost 40%, on Tuesday announced that it hired Mark Ferrara as managing director of its newly formed community banking group.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) said Tuesday it plans to consider the risk retention proposal at its next meeting on March 29.

Realpoint has launched an operational risk assessment practice that will be headed by Michael Gutierrez, formerly managing director and head of servicer evaluations at Standard & Poor's.

VW Credit (VCI) is in the market with an auto securitization called Volkswagen Auto Loan Enhanced Trust 2011-1 (VALET 2011-1 or 2011-1). The six-tranche offering, managed by JPMorgan Securities, is worth $1 billion.

A question posed by Sen. David Vitter last week has sparked fears among investors about what exactly two top administration officials meant when they responded to whether the GSEs would be exempted from pending risk-retention requirements.

Mortgage bankers originated $16.8 billion of Federal Housing Administration (FHA)-backed loans in February, a 27% decline from the prior month, and a sign that the spring home buying season may not be off to a rosy start.

The speed and volume of loans in U.S. CMBS being transferred into special servicing has begun to subside in recent months, according to Fitch Ratings.

Pacific Investment Management Co. (PIMCO) raised more than its targeted $1.5 billion to buy assets from banks looking to strengthen their balance sheets, according to a Bloomberg report.

When it comes to Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac’s future and the administration’s options for this, the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA) last week was pushing for a guaranty that could be priced in a manner similar to what is seen in the derivatives market.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) adopted a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPR) to reduce credit risk to otherwise vulnerable securitizations, such as auto loan deals.

The dollar amount of second lien mortgage debt continued to fall in the fourth quarter with roughly $620 billion in loans outstanding nationwide, a 9% decline over the past 12 months, according to survey figures compiled by ASR sister publication National Mortgage News.

The nation's 'robo-signing' scandal has left the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) with a backlog of nearly 176,000 loans that were in the process of being foreclosed upon at the end of 2010.