Securitization

Accusing Moody’s Investors Service of withholding evidence documenting its role in the housing and financial crisis, Attorney General Edmund G. Brown Jr. announced a court action forcing the rating agency to explain why it gave its highest ratings to “risky and toxic” MBS.

Goldman Sachs, its image tarnished by a new subprime-related legal action brought by the government, on Monday made additional comments on the case, including a revelation that it too lost money on the CDO transaction in question.

MBIA Insurance Corp. could run out of capital by 2014 if deterioration of its portfolio continues at average market trends, according to an independent analysis by CreditSights published Friday.

Two Harbors Investment Corp., a real estate investment trust that invests in MBS, on Friday cancelled an additional public offering of 14 million shares of common stock.

The board of governors of the CRE Finance Council has confirmed the leadership teams of the organization's five initial forums.

The Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA) today announced that Richard Dorfman has been appointed managing director and head of the SIFMA Securitization Group (SSG).

The Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA) launched a new advocacy and educational Web site called www.InvestedinAmerica.org, which has real stories and examples about the work the industry does to strengthen America’s economy.

The political pressure to enact financial reform intensified Friday as the government accused Goldman Sachs of defrauding investors and the Senate concluded two days of hearings highlighting the assertedly lax supervision that preceded the largest bank failure in the country's history.

Moody's Investors Service on Friday placed 3,000 pre-2005 Jumbo prime RMBS with an outstanding balance of $43.4 billion on review for possible downgrade.

The CDO at the center of the fraud case against Goldman Sachs is known as ABACUS 2007-AC1, and a class of its debt was cut to 'D' from 'CCC-' by Standard Poor’s in May 2009.

Arch Bay Capital, an active buyer and seller of nonperforming mortgages, is on the verge of jumping into the origination market and is busily gathering lending licenses in several states, according to officials briefed on its plans.

In the first arbitration decided against Banc of America Securities regarding the sale of auction rate securities (ARS) to institutional investors, an independent panel of arbitrators from the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) found the investment bank liable for its actions in the sale to an institutional investor of ARS.

Two weeks after Citigroup priced a $525 million CLO and a week after Orix, Apollo and GSO Blackstone all started arranging their own CLOs, Bank of America Merrill Lynch has begun arranging a $500 million CLO.

Single-family housing starts fell slightly in March to an annualized rate of 531,000 units, but compared to the same month last year rose an impressive 47%.

DLA Piper hired Peter Darrow to be a partner in the law firm's New York corporate finance practice.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) task force on hedge funds, buyout funds and mutual funds is looking to hire five fund managers, chief operating officers or executives with "direct exposure to trading and operations,"according to a help-wanted ad it placed last month. The SEC has also retained executive search firm Korn/Ferry International.

Swiss Re in Canada appointed Sharon Ludlow as CEO and head of its Canadian and English Caribbean operations, effective June 1.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has charged Goldman Sachs and one of its vice presidents for defrauding investors by misstating and omitting key facts about a synthetic CDO backed by subprime mortgages.

Freddie Mac named Anthony Renzi to the newly created position of executive vice president of single-family portfolio management.

If the mortgage industry takes one lesson from the housing crisis to heart, it should be the danger in having loose definitions and broad classifications of loans.