Securitization

Sallie Mae was in the market with a 144A student loan ABS. The deal is called SLM Student Loan Trust 2009-A, according to the ASR Scorecard database.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has made plans to temporarily tighten its rules on FHA cash-out refinancings due to falling house prices and rising defaults on refis.

Bond insurer Financial Security Assurance (FSA) last week reported a fourth-quarter 2008 net loss of $476 million, compared to a net loss of $89.3 million for the same quarter in 2007.

The payment option ARM market — once a $300 billion a year business — appears to be nearly dead.

The American Securitization Forum has extended the deadline for responses to a recent request for comment relative to certain portions of its Project on Residential Securitization Transparency and Reporting (Project RESTART) .

Fitch Ratings expects that in the near to medium term, retail will represent a growing proportion of overall defaults in the CMBS sector.

U.K. pub operator Globe Pub Co., controlled by property entrepreneur Robert Tchenguiz, announced it would breach its securitization covenants.

Barclays Capital analysts said that the European ABS market faces a number of serious challenges from technical, fundamental as well as structural factors.

The French securities regulator Autorite Des Marches Financiers' (AMF) proposed guidelines on the definition of a French money market fund (MMF) to promote transparency and consistency within the €510 billion ($664 billion) French MMF industry, and also placing a greater emphasis on asset credit risk.

The New York Federal Reserve Bank ramped up its purchase of GSE MBS the past two weeks due to an increase in refinancings and agency issuance of MBS.

This Monday the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) will be discussing fair value measurement. The discussion is expected to last 90 minutes.

MGIC Investment Corp., the nation's largest mortgage insurer, said it would defer by 10 years an interest payment on $390 million worth of subordinated debentures, igniting a steep selloff in its stock during the morning of March 12.

Bond insurer MBIA faces a suit filed in the Federal District Court for the Southern District of New York. The filing alleges its decision to split its mortgage and other structured finance exposures from its public finance obligations hurts its ability to meet its obligations to policyholders.

The Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility (TALF), will probably attract hedge funds as new buyers of ABS, according to a report from Standard & Poor's released today.

Freddie Mac said the Obama administration's housing plan may cost it $30 billion.

The Securities Industry Financial Markets Association (SIFMA) is phasing out its indexes tracking auction-rate securities as the credit crisis renders the market inactive.

The Federal Reserve of New York yesterday released a revised set of frequently-asked-questions related to the Term ABS Loan Facility (TALF).

The International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA) launched its Auction Settlement Supplement and Protocol, which is the final stage of the process known as 'hardwiring.' This the process of incorporating auction settlement terms into standard CDS documentation.

The originators of subprime mortgages and securitizers would have to retain an interest in any securities sold to investors under a subprime lending bill House Financial Services Committee chairman Barney Frank, D-Mass., is drafting.

Bank of America (BoA), within 30 days, will make a final decision on the fate of Merrill Lynch's far flung mortgage units, which include two large subprime servicing companies, and a Jacksonville, Fla.-based division that caters to Merrill's wealthy brokerage customers.