Securitization

The weakening economy and continued credit crunch led to increases in commercial/multifamily mortgage delinquencies during the first quarter of 2009, according to new figures released by the Mortgage Bankers Association. Between the fourth quarter of 2008 and first quarter of 2009, the 30-plus day delinquency rate on loans held in CMBS rose 68 basis points to 1.85%. The 60-plus day delinquency rate on loans held in life insurance company portfolios rose 5 basis points to 0.12%. The 60-plus day delinquency rate on multifamily loans held or insured by Fannie Mae rose 4 bps to 0.34%. According to the MBA, the 90-plus day delinquency rate on multifamily loans held or insured by Freddie Mac rose 8 bps to 0.09%. The 90-plus day delinquency rate on loans held by FDIC-insured banks and thrifts rose 66 bps to 2.28%. "Delinquency rates on commercial and multifamily mortgages held by banks and thrifts, by Fannie Mae and in commercial mortgage-backed securities are all now at levels higher than at any time since the 2001 recession," said Jamie Woodwell, vice president of commercial real estate research at the MBA. Mr. Woodwell added that delinquency rates on commercial mortgages held by life insurance companies during 1Q09 remained below the 2001 recession levels.

A $240 million portfolio of non-performing loans offered for auction by H&R Block has failed to sell, according to participants with knowledge of the deal. At press time, H&R Block's media department had not returned a telephone call about the auction.

HSBC has appointed Oliver Duff as global head of leveraged and acquisition finance, according to an internal document obtained by Bloomberg.

Although the Fed agency MBS purchase program could be considered successful — with mortgage spreads to Treasuries approaching their narrowest levels in this past month and housing affordability reaching record levels— JPMorgan Securities analysts said that there are few borrowers that have actually refinanced into the historically attractive rates that are available.

Nearly nine months after the government seized Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, lawmakers are poised to take their first steps this week toward determining the future of the government-sponsored enterprises.

GMAC Financial Services — which controls the nation's fifth largest residential servicer — says it's "business as usual" at the company even though one of its owners, General Motors, filed for bankruptcy protection on Monday.

Standard & Poor's lowered its ratings on 247 classes from 195 corporate-backed

Fitch Ratings withdrew the 'CAM2' CDO asset manager rating assigned to Cohen & Co. Financial Management as a manager of CDOs backed by trust preferred securities or TruPS.

Housing Secretary Shaun Donovan is "open to suggestions" on how his department can establish higher FHA loan limits for high-cost submarkets.

General Motors Corp.'s (GM) bankruptcy filing will likely have limited immediate ratings implications on outstanding auto related ABS deals issued by GMAC, Fitch Ratings said.

Rochdale Securities has launched a fixed income group and may open a New York office for its growing team before the end of the year.

CW Financial Services (CWFS), a real estate finance and investment management firm, made several changes to its management structure.

Bond insurer Syncora Guarantee late Thursday announced it had executed a master transaction agreement with 25 financial counterparties that lets it commute or restructure all of its $56 billion in credit-default swap exposure.

Two Bank of America credit deals have priced, Bank of America Credit Card Trust Class C 2009-1 Notes and Bank of America Credit Card Trust Class B 2009-1 Notes. The deals are $250 million and $100 million, respectively. Both these transactions were led by Banc of America Securities.

American Express is in the market with a $1.2 billion TALF-eligible credit card deal, which is led by Barclays Capital, RBS Securities and Morgan Stanley.

Jon Daurio, chairman and CEO of Kondaur Capital, a mortgage investing vulture fund, said the closing of a private equity firm that pledged up to $1 billion for his investments will not slow his firm's growth, according to a report published in The Orange County Register."

The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) has insured only $13.8 billion in mortgages with loan balances above the old $417,000 conforming loan limit, including $5.3 billion in California and $2.5 billion in New York, according to new government data.

David Rosenblum has left his position as portfolio manager and head of structured credit at Goldman Sachs Asset Management.

A test run of the government's bad-loan removal plan has been shelved as officials struggle to attract both sellers and buyers.

Wyndham Worldwide Corp. announced that it has completed a term securitization. The firm issued $225 million of investment grade ABS notes via Sierra Timeshare 2009-1 Receivables Funding, an indirect subsidiary of Wyndham Vacation Ownership.