Securitization

MGIC Investment Corp., the nation's largest private mortgage insurer, said Thursday that it expects to break even on the policies it wrote in the first quarter, but that profitability will improve and next year's crop of loans will be an "outstanding vintage."

Capital One Financial Corp. said its second-quarter profit fell 39.6% from a year earlier, to $452.9 million.

Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) officials defended the agency yesterday against charges it has improperly handled the failure of IndyMac Bancorp, stirring concerns among depositors nationwide.

Baker & McKenzie has hired Hans Montag as partner in its New York office. Montag joins the law firm from the New York office of Clifford Chance where he worked for almost ten years.

CIT Group said yesterday its second-quarter earnings fell to $48.1 million, or 12 cents a share, from $352.1 million, or $1.76 a share, largely because of losses related to the sale of its home lending business.

June housing starts printed up 9.1% to 1.066 million units and building permits were up 11.6% to 1.091 million, but the Commerce Department says this reflects new construction codes in New York City that began July 1 and which resulted in a surge in multifamily activity. The far more significant single-family starts fell 5.3% to 647,000, and single-family permits dropped 3.5% to 613,000.

GCO Education Loan Funding Master Trust-II has made a tender offer to purchase certain outstanding senior auction rate bonds at a discount.

Moody’s Investors Service has released a new report entitled Assessing the Importance of an Originator's Retained Interest to Moody's Structured Finance Ratings.

Fitch Ratings has affirmed Fannie Mae's long-term issuer default rating (IDR) at 'AAA', but it downgraded the GSE's preferred stock rating to 'A+' from 'AA-.'

Fixed-rate mortgages recorded double digit declines this week, according to Freddie Mac's weekly survey.

Standard & Poor’s announced last week that it revised its outlook to negative from stable on the core entities of Dexia SA, citing the potential impact of “faster-than-expected deterioration of the U.S. housing market” on the Franco-Belgian bank’s bond insurer subsidiary Financial Security Assurance (FSA).

Builders’ confidence in the market for new single-family homes dropped again in July, as the National Association of Home Builders’ housing market index — a monthly gauge of builder sentiment — slipped to 16 from 18 in June, the group announced yesterday.

The American Securitization Forum (ASF) and the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA) today sent a letter stating their concerns regarding Statement 140 and Interpretation 46(R) to the Financial Accounting Standards Board and several regulators.

Pacific Investment Management Co. (Pimco) has recently poached Brigitte Posch, a veteran of Latin American ABS, from her post as head of Latin American securitizations at Deutsche Bank.

The American Securitzation Forum (ASF) launched ASF Project RESTART today, according to a release from the association.

Standard & Poor’s is requesting comments on a proposal to incorporate credit stability as an important factor in its ratings.

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson yesterday strongly urged Congress to act quickly to pass legislation that would create a new regulator and enable the Treasury to be a financial backstop for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, warning that such action is critical to restoring public confidence in the two secondary mortgage market giants.

Mortgage lenders are pushing for the U.K. treasury to assist the U.K. housing market by funding new home loans, according to an article in The Times today.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) board yesterday approved a final covered bond policy statement, according to an FDIC press release.

Alcentra, a specialist investor focused on subinvestment-grade debt, is moving one of its top managing directors from London to New York to lead its U.S. leveraged loan business, according to the Financial News.