Securitization

Standard & Poor’s announced that its new rating criteria for covered bonds will not be ready for publication until at least September.

Strategic Analytics announced the launch of an internal division dedicated to providing significant solutions in mortgage risk analytics. The Mortgage Risk Analytics group will be led by Director Dale Cline, who has more than twenty years of mortgage experience.

Moody’s Investor Service has downgraded Ambac Assurance Corp., Ambac Assurance U.K. , and Ambac Financial Group.

BNP Paribas Corporate and Investment Banking appointed Patti Carlo and Sherif Elias to its fixed income group.

Pershing Securities Singapore Private Limited, an affiliate of Pershing LLC, a subsidiary of The Bank of New York Mellon Corporation, has received a capital markets servicing license from the Monetary Authority of Singapore.

Hannover Re has renewed its Eurus catastrophe bond issued in July 2006. The bond with a volume of €150 million ($210 million) was placed with institutional investors in Europe and North America.

The Geary Cos. has formed CEMP to get into the re-securitization market, the firm said today.

Wheels SPV is in the market with a $703 million auto lease deal called Wheels SPV, LLC, Series 2009-1.

The mortgage lending industry helped 310,000 homeowners complete workout solutions to stay in their homes in June, HOPE NOW reported today. This is a 25% increase over May.In June, HOPE NOW members and the mortgage lending industry modified 96,000 mortgages, 5.1% down from May’s 101,000. They also initiated 214,000 repayment plans, up 44.9% from May’s 148,000.Since last January, more than 1.5 million homeowners have been helped through mortgage workout plans.HOPE NOW’s participating servicers reported a slight drop in modifications and more than a 40% increase in repayment plans, mainly attributed to servicer participation in Home Affordable Mortgage Modification Program (HAMP).Under federal requirements for HAMP, loans are subject to a three-month trial period before a modification can be completed. This means that a number of workouts that will end up being modifications can only be reported as repayment plays or trial modifications for the time being. June saw 93,924 foreclosure sales, up 13% from May. Prime foreclosure sales in June outpaced subprime sales by two-to-one for the first time since HOPE NOW began collecting data.The organization’s new survey suggests a peak in subprime foreclosure sales occurred 2Q08, and that the largest gain in reported prime loan foreclosure sales occurred in 2Q09 at 154,108.The HOPE NOW June data also shows that 60-day plus delinquencies increased from 3.0 to almost 3.1 million, foreclosure starts decreased from 257, 000 in May to 254,000 in June, and completed foreclosure sales increased from 83,000 in May to 94,000 in June.

Two-thirds of the 94,000 foreclosure sales in June involved properties previously financed by prime mortgages as the tide of subprime foreclosure sales has declined over the past four quarters, according to the Hope Now alliance.

Ambac Financial Group Inc., New York, said it expects to see second-quarter statutory loss and loss expenses that relate primarily to deterioration in second-lien and alternative-A credit securitized mortgage financial guarantee portfolios amount to $800 million.

Obama administration officials want servicers to pick up the pace of loan modifications and qualify at least 500,000 homeowners for 90-day trial modifications by Nov. 1, according to Treasury Department and HUD officials.

KKR Financial Holdings has delevered four of its CLOs to boost liquidity, and the company projects a quarterly profit, it said Tuesday.

Standard & Poor’s Tuesday evening slashed Ambac Assurance Corp.’s financial-strength rating to junk, saying assumed losses on insured mortgage bonds could wipe out the company’s equity.

The failure of yet another voluntary plan to rework mortgages is likely to renew a push for bankruptcy reform and other measures to force lenders to compromise with borrowers.

PCG Equity has acquired Academic Loan Group. PCG said it believes that the acquisition furthers its investment objective of acquiring quality assets that will produce superior long term returns, as ALG has syndicated billions of dollars worth of loans over time as a high quality portfolio of performing student loans.

House prices have reversed their steep decline and it appears home prices are finally stabilizing at mid-2003 levels, according to the May Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller 20-city house price index.

Both sides claimed victory after a U.S. District Court judge dismissed some of the charges made by FICO, Minneapolis, in a lawsuit against VantageScore Solutions LLC, Stamford, Conn., and two of the three credit repositories.

Ambac Assurance Corp. (AAC) released its estimated credit derivative impairment and loss as well as loss expenses for the second quarter, Ambac Financial Group said today.

Major trends seen in the July ABX remittance report are that modification rates remain low while prepayments picked up, loss severities remained largely unchanged, and REO buckets are still shrinking, according to a report from Bank of America/Merrill Lynch.