Securitization

Mayer Brown hired Josh Cohn, a derivatives specialist, as a partner its the New York office and the leader of the U.S. derivatives and structured products practice and co-leader of the global derivatives and structured products practice.

Despite mortgage rates holding below 5%, mortgage application activity slipped 2.1% for the week ending Feb. 12.

The prepayment story in conventionals has gotten more interesting — for the near term at least — following last week's announcement from both GSEs that they would buyout 120 day (or more) delinquent mortgage loans.

Moody’s Investors Service said there is no rating effect on Unicredit’s Italian RMBS deals following the implementation of the Piano Famiglie payment holiday scheme for Italian mortgage borrowers.

Eurostat, the European Union (EU) statistical office wants Greece to give an accounting of structured finance deals that were undertaken from 2001 to 2008, which might have allowed the government to conceal billions of euros of new debt from the public and regulators.

While second liens are stumbling blocks in many modifications, when the interests of the first and second mortgages are aligned it often results in a principal reduction, according to Laura Goodman, senior managing director at Amherst Securities Group.

Stung by its investments in private-label MBS, the Federal Home Loan Bank of Seattle is suing several Wall Street firms in an effort to have them repurchase assets.

Broadridge Financial Solutions released the Decision Support Tools (DSTools) functionality for MBS Expert, its MBS processing solution.

BNP Paribas appointed Giovanni Pini as head of ABS strategy and Olivier Morand-Duval as European head of ABS trading. Perry Inglis also joined as head of ABS valuation and origination.

Risk is rising at an accelerated pace for prime and super-prime borrowers for all product sectors that include mortgage loans, bankcards and auto loans, according to findings from a study by VantageScore.

Term ABS Loan Facility (TALF) funding's impact on the securitization market is dissipating, according to Wells Fargo analysts.

U.S. District Court Judge Richard Sullivan issued a decision yesterday denying the MBIA defendants' motion to dismiss a class action fraudulent conveyance lawsuit.

Creditors of Taylor Bean & Whitaker (TBW) are seeking permission from a bankruptcy judge for authority to sue former company insiders, including president Lee Farkas, who founded the company and made it into a top 10 ranked lender.

The average size of commercial MBS loans moved into 'special servicing' has more than doubled over the past 12 months, according to Fitch Ratings.

Markit has introduced a new loan index to be used as a benchmark for investors with cash loan portfolios.

Fitch Ratings has discontinued its U.S. ABS seller/servicer ratings and has withdrawn all existing U.S. ABS seller/servicer ratings and related criteria.

With $1.4 trillion in commercial real estate loans coming due the next four years, someone's going to take a bath — and the water isn't warm.

Republican Sen. Bob Corker's decision to negotiate directly with Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd on regulatory reform may boost the chances of reaching a bipartisan bill, but does not clarify how critical unresolved issues will be worked out.

The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) added two new hires to its MBS, CMBS, and ABS strategy team within its U.S. global banking and markets (GBM) division.

Highland Capital Management, which last week returned investments and closed its CLO Value Fund I, is preparing to kick off another similar fund, according to a source familiar with the matter.