Securitization

The Association for Financial Markets in Europe (AFME) appointed Simon Lewis as its chief executive. The new hire will assume his position on Oct. 1.

Lawmakers raised renewed concerns Thursday over the future viability of the Federal Housing Administration (FHA), even as the agency's commissioner, David Stevens, touted some progress in restoring its depleted capital reserves.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development this week revealed some significant changes to its Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) Program.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) will be having a board meeting on Monday to discuss the final Safe Harbor rules.

As the House gave final approval Thursday to a bill that would create a $30 billion small-business lending fund, a top Treasury Department official said the administration would move as quickly as possible to implement the program.

Moody's Investors Service has placed on review for possible downgrade GMAC Mortgage's servicer quality (SQ) ratings.

Turkey’s Vakifbank has completed an exchange offer to strip the wraps off tranches in its program backed by diversified payment rights (DPRs). Overall, the bank exchanged nearly 72% of the volume of the tranches on offer, with a Radian-covered tranche the only one to be retired in full. Some $549 million was offered and $394 million exchanged. Full results are attached. Standard Bank handled the deal.

Freddie Mac reported a 17% jump in refinancing volume from July to August and another monthly decline in single-family delinquencies.

The chairman of the Senate Banking Committee is trying to secure a one-year extension of the $729,750 GSE loan limit in a continuing resolution the Senate is expected to pass next week.

Oklahoma Student Loan Authority 2010 (OSLA 2010) is in the market with a $232 million FFELP-backed student loan deal. The three-tranche SLABS is managed by Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

Mortgage servicers signed off on 33,300 permanent HAMP modifications in August — the lowest number of completed restructurings since December 2009 when the Obama administration's foreclosure prevention program was just getting off the ground.

After plunging 27% in July, sales of existing single-family homes rebounded 7.4% in August as buyers took advantage of historically low mortgage rates and affordable prices.

Primus Guaranty has entered into a binding letter of intent to sell its third-party asset management unit CypressTree Investment Management to Commercial Industrial Finance Corp. (CIFC). The deal's terms were not disclosed.

The Collingwood Group has appointed of Mary Lou Christy as senior vice president. Before Collingwood, Christy was senior vice president of investor relations for Fannie Mae. In her 24-year career at the GSE, she also led the MBS trading desk, and was vice president of sales and marketing in the southwestern region.

Bank of America has decided to merge its Home Loan Services (HLS) affiliate in Pittsburgh, a subprime specialty servicer, into its main servicing operation.

House Republicans blasted the proposed Basel III capital standards on Wednesday, arguing the plan would make the system more uncertain without making it substantially more safe.

Both 30- and 15-year fixed mortgage rates were unchanged in the week ending Sept. 23 at 4.37% and 3.82%, respectively, according to the Freddie Mac's weekly Primary Mortgage Market

Evidence of sloppy mortgage servicing practices should come as no surprise to anyone who has paid attention to the industry during the foreclosure crisis.

On the heels of deals from Toyota Motor Credit Corp. and Chrysler Financial Corp., Consumer Portfolio Services is also coming to market with a $94.5 million auto ABS. The deal, which is managed by Citigroup Global Markets, is comprised of five tranches.

Moody’s Investors Service analysts said that they expect rehabilitated FFELP SLABs pools to experience a higher net loss rate versus pools of non-rehabilitated FFELP loans.