Securitization

The German finance ministry is still considering enlarging the support for the banking sector, according to market reports.

The impact of the continuing U.K. housing market downturn will have a minimal impact on the ratings of UK prime RMBS, said Fitch Ratings today in a report.

While remaining steadfast in their opposition to "cramdowns," the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) acknowledges that supporters are gaining momentum and the trade group has outlined parameters it would like to see included in legislation that would allow bankruptcy judges to reduce the secured portion of a mortgage loan.

Following its acquisition by Bank of America, Merrill Lynch has cut two top guys from its Asia-Pacific debt capital markets team: Ajay Sawhney, head of Asian leveraged finance, and Jon Pratt, head of Asia debt capital markets outside Japan and Australia.

Standard Chartered Bank today announced the appointment of Zubaid Ahmad as vice chairman, head of corporate finance, Americas, based in New York.

AIG Global Real Estate, a unit of American International Group (AIG), New York, is planning to divest its fund management business. This unit operates 15 existing fund programs with over $12.4 billion in assets under management and $5.2 billion in equity capital commitments as of Sept. 30.

Single-family existing home sales unexpectedly jumped 7% in December from November but prices continue to slide as nearly half of all sales involved foreclosed houses.

Freddie Mac may need to make a second draw on the U.S. Treasury Department line of credit — this time for $30 billion to $35 billion — to maintain a positive net worth as it closes its books on the fourth quarter, according to a securities filing by the company. "

NewOak Capital announced today the appointment of David Bigelow as managing director of marketing. The new appointee will be covering institutional clients such as pension funds, public funds, endowments, private equities, and financial institutions.

Deloitte & Touche released two new modules for CDO Suite — an asset administration, compliance and reporting system for a variety of portfolio structures such as hedge funds and CDOs — that will allow market participants to become either providers or consumers of syndicated loan data.

Despite warning this month that the Federal Home Loan Bank of Seattle's capital is likely to fall below required minimums, its president, Richard Riccobono, has no immediate plans to raise more.

Turkey's Denizbank has rung in the New Year with a $650 million, six-year deal backed by diversified payment rights.

Auto ABS deals were the only new issues to make an appearance in 4Q08.

The U.K. government last week made a number of announcements regarding initiatives intended to support lending.

There's little doubt among market participants that in the tainted universe of structured finance, the collateralized loan obligation has the greatest chance of survival. The CLO structure is sound and robust, they said, and CLOs are composed of straightforward assets whose origin is easy to determine. Yet, in a market where these products have to contend with forces stronger than their managers ever imagined, experts are forecasting a tough year for European CLOs-one in which the asset class overall will remain in hibernation, and some individual structures will become extinct.

Bankruptcy cram-downs have increasingly become a concern for the ABS market over the past few weeks in light of Citigroup's decision to back a revised bill amending the bankruptcy code. The legislation also carries the support of the new Democratic administration.

A surge in chargeoffs and delinquencies is threatening Advanta Corp.'s survival.

Brazilian ABS has stayed afloat as its counterparts in more developed markets dive and drown in lemming-like numbers.

Saving a country's economy from a financial meltdown is a balancing act, but in the end there is no easy solution - just attention to detail.

Moody's Investors Service has revised its loss projections for U.S. Alt-A RMBS issued in 2006 and 2007.