Securitization

The White House is contemplating naming Fannie Mae CEO Herb Allison to head the government's $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), according to press reports and sources familiar with the situation.

Moody’s Investors Service Monday night cut Ambac Assurance Corp.’s rating to junk status, downgrading the bond insurer to 'Ba3' from 'Baa1'. The outlook is developing.

The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) appointed Michael Fratantoni as vice president of single family research and policy development.

USAA Federal Savings Bank is in the market with an auto ABS deal USAA Auto Owner Trust 2009-1 led by Banc of America Securities and JPMorgan Securities.

U.K. mortgage lender Abbey National said it plans to outsource elements of its residential mortgage collections to Westcot Credit Services.

The Bank of England’s (BoE) monetary policy committee voted to continue with BoE's Asset Purchase Program, which was announced on March 5 and has asset purchases totaling £75 billion ($111 billion) financed by the issuance of central bank reserves.

Robert Bell and Robert Palache have launched a new real estate business venture called Bell Capital Partners.

Bond insurer Syncora Guarantee will temporarily suspend claims payments on April 26 if it does not complete transactions to reduce its structured finance exposures and meet its minimum required policyholders' surplus.

DBRSreleased an updated methodology for rating U.S. RMBS that combines the previously published individual RMBS methodologies as well as related updates on default frequency, loss severity, cash flow and net interest margin securitizations.

Even though it appears that loan applications and fundings swelled in the first quarter of this year, 2008 was one of the bleakest ones on record with all of the nation's top ranked firms suffering, according to a new annual tally by National Mortgage News (NMN).

In 2008, college students utilized credit cards more than ever before, according to a new study released by Sallie Mae.

AIR Worldwide Corp. (AIR) said it has provided risk modelling and analytical services for more than $10 billion in insurance-linked securities (ILS) since 1996 and over 56% of total issuance since 2007.

Boutique investment bank Maxim Group has added two new managing directors and an analyst to its leveraged finance team, the firm announced today. The new appointments are part of an ongoing expansion.

The Federal Home Loan Bank of Boston is reporting a huge impairment charge on its investments in private-label MBS and a net loss of $115.8 million for 2008, but the bank expects recent changes to accounting rules will mitigate the impact on its retained earnings.

Genworth Financial, which controls the nation's fourth largest mortgage insurance company, said it failed to meet requirements to receive a large capital infusion under the Treasury Department's Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP).

Up-in-coupon trades outperformed lately despite increased prepayment risk. The risk resulted from lower mortgage rates and the government's refinancing programs.

Turkey’s Turkiye Garanti Bankasi (Garantibank) has issued a $225 million bond backed by diversified payment rights (DPRs) and due in 2013 in order to refinance a bond with the same maturity date and issued for $250 million in 2005.

The fund purchasing RMBS insured by Syncora Guarantee has once again extended the early consideration period in which it will offer sellers a premium for their assets, Syncora Holdings announced last week.

Standard & Poor’s last week downgraded bond insurer Radian Asset Assurance to 'BBB-' from 'BBB+' in a move related to downgrades of parent Radian Guaranty and all other major U.S. mortgage insurers. The rating remains on negative watch.

Ambac Financial Group last week terminated all its reinsurance transactions with RAM Reinsurance Co., citing its ongoing effort to reduce reinsurance exposure.