Securitization

King & Spalding hired Scott Stengel, who specializes in bank regulatory, capital markets and restructuring matters, to the firm’s capital transactions and real estate practice in Washington, D.C.

Freddie Mac late Thursday said Donald J. Bisenius, executive vice president of its single-family credit guaranty business, received a 'Wells Notice,' which means the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is considering filing civil charges against him.

Securitized hospitality loan delinquencies have been the highest in the CMBS market and tend to be the most volatile but one advisor, Mission Capital principal David Tobin, sees a relative improvement in them.

The former treasurer of Taylor, Bean & Whitaker (TBW), Ocala, Fla., pleaded guilty to criminal charges involving her role in selling "fictitious" mortgages to Colonial Bank, contributing to that institution's failure.

Bank regulators, law enforcement and various other federal and state officials continue to negotiate the proper punishment for more than a dozen large servicers that have mistreated mortgage borrowers.

Carrington Capital Management, a former subprime securitization specialist, salvaged an impressive amount of money from its low-ranked RMBS, thanks to the unusual strategies of its servicing affiliate.

Sallie Mae hired Kenneth Fischbach as director of capital markets. In his new role, Fischbach will assume the capital markets responsibilities of Jonathan Clark, who was appointed chief financial officer in January and now the firm's executive vice president & CFO. Additionally, Fischbach also continue to manage the student lender's rating agency relationships.

Gatwick Airport priced its £600 million ($968 million) structured finance deal. The offering was structured with two 'BBB+sf ' fixed-rate bonds rated by both Moody's Investors Service and Fitch Ratings.

New home purchases fell 12.6% in January to start the new year off on the wrong foot, erasing a 15% gain in December sales.

The private market could struggle to meaningfully absorb the capacity GSEs currently provide to the U.S. housing market, said Fitch Ratings in a report today on the housing finance reform proposal.

Europe looks set to reopen its CMBS new-issue market as Deutsche Bank preps a new £360 million ($580 million) deal for Blackstone Group, according to a Reuters report.

Financial Services Committee Chairman Spencer Bachus has scheduled a hearing and markup for early March to consider four bills that would terminate government-backed loan modification/foreclosure prevention programs that he calls "failed and ineffective."

Mortgages rates fell in the week ending Feb. 24 as yields declined on a flight to quality.

Single-family existing home sales rose 2.4% in January following a 12% jump in December, according to new figures compiled by the National Association of Realtors (NAR).

Though it's too early to declare that mortgage delinquencies are on the way down permanently, "We are seeing some bright spots," Anthony Renzi, Freddie Mac executive vice president of single family portfolio management, said during a press briefing at the Mortgage Bankers Association's servicing conference in Dallas Wednesday morning.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) Wednesday morning laid out its options for restructuring mortgage servicing compensation, including the possibility of eliminating the 25 basis point minimum paid on performing loans.

U.S. credit card delinquencies fell about 32% in the fourth quarter from a year earlier, according to TransUnion.

Yearend financial reports by several Federal Home Loan Banks (FHLBs) showed these "other" housing GSEs are returning to profitability, while experiencing a lower level of losses on their holdings of private-label MBS.

The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed rate mortgages dropped 12 basis points to 5.0%, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) survey.

Dechert hired Lawrence Berkovich as counsel in its finance and real estate (FRE) group. He was most recently special counsel at Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft.