Securitization

The first two public-private ventures that will invest in toxic mortgage-backed securities have been approved by the Treasury Department.

What a difference a year has made. The leveraged loan market appears to have turned a corner, and a big part of that has been the willingness of banks to turn on the faucet and fund new deals. This was especially true during the third quarter. And while no one expects that faucet to morph into a fire hose anytime soon, many market participants believe lending will continue to increase for the remainder of 2009 and into 2010.

Fitch Ratings has published its criteria for rating structured finance transactions, outlining five fundamental elements that it uses for each rating. The New York-based rating agency said it published the criteria in the interest of transparency.

The American Securitization Forum has submitted a letter to federal banking regulators requesting the near-term announcement of a six-month moratorium on any regulatory capital rule changes related to the implementation of accounting standards FAS 166 and 167, and the proposed elimination of the option for ABCP conduit sponsors to disregard consolidation of conduits for risk-based capital purposes.

The Manitowoc Company increased its trade receivables securitization by $125 million. Nord LB's commercial paper conduit, Hannover Funding Company LLC, will fund the transaction.

The recent decline in performance of Sallie Mae’s private student loan securitizations is linked to the more restrictive forbearance policy the lender introduced in early 2008,according to a Moody’s Investors Service report.

For the week ending Oct. 1, 30-year fixed mortgages averaged 4.94% with an average 0.7 point, down 10 basis points from last week, according to Freddie Mac.

Loan modifications and payment restructurings by the nation's residential servicers rose 75% in the second quarter to 439,574 units, with a noticeable increase in principal reductions, according to new figures released by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC).

The 2008 Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) data show that Federal Housing Administration (FHA) lending surged in the second half of 2008 and by December FHA had a 38% share of the home purchase market and 25% share of the refinancing market.

John Deere is in the market with an $775.5 million equipment lease ABS called John Deere Owner Trust 2009-B.

A nonperforming second-lien portfolio with a face value of $365 million is about to change hands, according to an investment banker close to the transaction.

The Commercial Mortgage Securities Association (CMSA) said today that it strongly supports efforts to strengthen the credit ratings system but it opposes reforms – such as differentiation – that lack substance and undermine commercial real estate capital market recovery.

NewOak Capital appointed Amy Levenson as managing director and chairman of its newly formed commercial real estate loans and properties capital markets group responsible for creating and executing real estate capital market solutions for clients.

Denver-based Allonhill was approved by Standard & Poor’s to perform third-party reviews on RMBS.

Citigroup has snagged Barclays' head of U.S. leveraged loan syndications to head up its leveraged syndicate group for the Americas.

Japanese bank Nomura has reportedly appointed a former Lehman Brothers banker as its cohead of fixed income for the Americas. The bank has been increasing its U.S. staff and plans to continue expanding within fixed income.

Past and present Employees of Moody’s Investors Service take the stand today as the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform continues its investigation of credit rating agencies.

UBS said on Tuesday it hired Michael Ostow from Morgan Stanley as a managing director and head of North American insurance coverage.

Special-purpose entities are not inherently dangerous, according to a report released Tuesday.

The most recent data from HOPE NOW showed foreclosure starts dropped 21% to 224,000