Securitization

Wells Fargo and Citigroup have started a game of tug of war over Wachovia.

CIBC announced today that it will be further strengthening its balance sheet by considerably reducing its remaining exposure to the U.S. residential real estate market.

Jefferies & Co., the principal operating subsidiary of Jefferies Group, today announced that Kelly Holloway has joined as a senior vice president in the company's fixed-income group.

CDO shop Deerfield Capital Corp. announced the company's conversion to a C corporation to maximize its use of significant tax benefitsto increase stockholder value.

Fannie Mae announced that it would cancel the planned increase in its adverse market delivery charge.

Mortgage rates remained almost the same this week as reported by Freddie Mac in its weekly survey.

France is working on a €300 billion ($417 billion) bailout fund to rescue European banks caught up in the credit crunch, according to press reports.

The Senate approved a bill 74 to 25 late Wednesday that is designed to stabilize the financial markets.

The European Commission has posted its proposal for revisions to the capital requirements directive.

Bowing to pressure from Congress and industry groups, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) have issued a last-minute clarification that will allow companies to use expected cash flows to value illiquid mortgage assets in preparing their third-quarter financial reports.

Unlike Freddie Mac, which experienced a 56% contraction to $760.9 billion in its retained portfolio in August, Fannie Mae's actually rose 3% to $759.98 billion. Net retained purchases totaled $13.6 billion compared to Freddie Mac's $15.4 billion decline.

The negotiations regarding a second run at passing the TARP bill remain fluid, according to a note from RBS Greenwich Capital (RBSGC) just released.

NewOak Capital has appointed key leaders of its integrated advisory/asset management/structured product firm.

Citing the current market environment and related questions regarding the implementation of fair value, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) has revised its previous agenda for today's board meeting.

Markit postponed the launch of the Markit ABX.HE 05-2 index. The ABX.HE is a tradable synthetic index of U.S. subprime ABS.

Genworth Financial today said it is examining a number of strategic alternatives regarding its U.S. mortgage insurance business, including a possible spin-off, to determine the best alternative for the insurance firm, its customers and shareholders.

Societe Generale Corporate & Investment Banking, has launched a new

FRSGlobal announced the launch of its new product — ReportBuilder — part of the FRSGlobal center for regulatory reporting.

By purchasing Wachovia Corp., Citigroup — which is receiving federal aid on the deal — will pick up additional market share in both residential lending and servicing, challenging Bank of America, Chase, and Wells Fargo for the top perch in the industry.

Following in Fannie Mae's footsteps, Freddie Mac yesterday announced changes in its senior management and organization that are effective immediately.