Securitization

Starting September 1, 2009, Moody's Investors Service will withdraw the ratings on structured finance securities insured by guarantors that have financial strength ratings below ‘Baa3’ if either of two conditions are met: Moody's is unable to determine an underlying rating (i.e., absent consideration of the guaranty) on the security or the issuer has requested that the

Jefferies & Co. has hired Lisa Pendergast as a managing director in the MBS/ABS/CMBS group of the fixed-income division. Her responsibilities will include strategy and risk for CMBS, as well as strategy for other structured commercial and multifamily real estate products.

The Barrent Group has announced a new service offering for RMBS bondholders that will assist them to recover losses resulting from buying into RMBS pools, the group said in today’s release.

The European Commission's new revisions of its EU rules on capital requirements for banks will impose higher capital requirements for resecuritizations and propose stronger disclosure requirements for securitization exposures.The revision will also require banks to have sound remuneration practices that do not encourage or reward excessive risk-taking.

A Ukrainian banking law amendment might impact ABS exposure securitizing foreign currency denominated exposure, said analysts at Moody’s Investors Service.

Treasury secretary Timothy Geithner is pressing mortgage servicers to expand their capacity and improve their loan modification efforts so the President's efforts to help struggling homeowners and stabilize the housing market will be successful.

Freddie Mac has slashed its origination forecast for the third quarter by $265 billion mainly due to a drop off in refinancings.

Raising the loan-to-value ratio on refinances of underwater mortgages to 125% could help 2.25 million Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac borrowers lower their monthly payments, according to analysts at Amherst Securities Group.

Ginnie Mae issued $43.6 billion in mortgage-backed securities in June, up from the previous record of $39 billion in May, as issuance during the first six months of this year has nearly doubled from a year ago.

Mayer Brown has hired three finance partners in order to strengthen its leveraged finance and asset-backed lending platforms as part of growth plans for the London office.

Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd (D-CT) and House Financial Services Chairman Barney Frank (D-MA) sent a letter to the heads of the bank regulatory agencies asking them to address whether banks are inflating the value of second mortgages on their balance sheets thereby discouraging proactive efforts to modify and restructure mortgage loans.

Morgan Stanley launched a $250 million intellectual property securitization for Vertex Pharmaceuticals — a U.S. biotech company — where investors would be repaid from contractual milestone payments on a drug still in development, according to published reports.

Standard Life Investments appointed Eric Roberts head of institutional sales (U.S.), the firm said in today's release.

Conduit Capital Markets appointed Paul Blake as head of fixed income sales, the dealer announced today in a press release.

KfW Bankengruppe, the German government owned development bank said it is well position to resume capital market activities in the second half of 2009 and said that simply structured securitizations will still be important for the credit supply of small and medium sized businesses or SME’s.

The Office of Comptroller of the Currency is rewriting the rule laying out its visitorial powers of national banks following the Supreme Court's criticism of the agency's 2004 regulation.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said Friday that the administration would propose broad parameters for standardizing derivatives contracts that are traded over the counter, a move that could bring a large portion of them onto central clearing platforms and regulated exchanges.

The U.K. Parliament’s amendment to its Banking Act 2009 that now restricts the power to modify trust arrangements involved in failing banks sheds some clarity that proves beneficial to structured finance, said analysts at Moody’s Investors Service.

A group of investors have recently purchased a controlling interest in CRT Capital Group, Stamford, Conn., and say they plan to focus the firm on mortgage/asset-backed products and U.S. Treasuries going forward.

In what is believed to be one of the largest government auctions of mortgage servicing rights in quite some time, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. is offering a $1 billion package of residential receivables that belonged to the now defunct Franklin Bank S.S.B. of Houston.