Securitization

Fitch Ratings said today that approximately 30% of all repossessions in the U.K. in 2008 came from defaults of nonconforming borrowers, even though the sector only comprised under 10% of the entire U.K. mortgage market.

DLA Piper UK 's finance and projects group has hired Costanza Russo, who is also an expert in securitization, as a partner based in the firm's London office.

Mission Capital Advisors hired Chad Coluccio as a managing director in its New York office.

Friedman, Billings, Ramsey Group, a real estate investment trust headquartered in Arlington, Va., is changing its name to Arlington Asset Investment Corp.

The National Association of Mortgage Brokers (NAMB) has filed suit against the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) to block implementation of a new GSE appraisal rule, claiming it could put brokers out of business and allow appraisal management firms to profit at the expense of independent appraisers and consumers.

Beacon Capital Markets, which operates a marketplace dedicated to providing liquidity and electronic trading in the MBS market, expanded its sales team with the hiring of four professionals.

Hannover Re announced today that the acquisition of the ING individual life reinsurance business from the Scottish Re Group — which was first announced at the end of January — has been completed.

Northern Rock said that it plans to increase mortgage lending by up to £14 billion ($20.4 billion) over the next two years.

Regulators from the U.S., the U.K. and Europe are in talks, trying to coordinate how they would regulate the credit default swap market.

Manager Activity: AutosFull Credit to Book (Equal if Joint) U.S. Public ABS Market/144A Market

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner's announcement of the revamped Financial Stability Plan proved to be a showstopper during the American Securitization Forum's (ASF) annual industry conference held earlier this month in Las Vegas. But reactions were mixed.

Mortgage spreads firmed up on Wednesday as Treasurys sold off prompted by another round of supply worries. These market jitters resulted from the vague details of President Barack Obama's housing plan.

There are both positive and negative aspects to President Barack Obama's Homeowner Affordability and Stability Plan (HASP) announced on Wednesday last week.

The European Securitization Forum (ESF) released the RMBS Issuer Principles for Transparency and Disclosure last week.

With the onslaught of illiquid assets - particularly displaced MBS and CDO bonds - the development of a market for these securities becomes essential as well as useful not only for the companies that profit from them, but more importantly, the economy as a whole.

Fitch Ratings released its criteria for its structured finance loss severity (LS) rating scale last week. The rating agency said that the new scale was established to complement the existing Long-Term Credit (LTC) ratings for these securities.

Following through on a transformation plan announced last year, MBIA last week said it has restructured its insurance subsidiaries to form a new U.S. public finance-only insurer that will operate separately from its structured finance business.

Financial markets received the Department of the Treasury's latest bank-rescue plan with a resounding thud. The stock market's swoon was generally attributed to the lack of detail in the Financial Stability Plan, announced Feb. 10. After years of perusing plans and initiatives, investors were dismayed to receive a mere skeleton of a plan.

On Feb. 4, Moody's Investors Service revised the methodology it uses to rate CLOs, spurring a rash of CLO downgrades that has yet to end. As a result, CLO managers have begun requesting amendments to their reinvestment periods to relieve the pressure, sources said.

Bank of America Corp. has sold a corporate debt trustee business to Wilmington Trust Corp.