Securitization

Citigroup's Bill Beckman will step down as the firm's top mortgage executive in order to spend more time with his family, according to published reports. Before becoming president of CitiMortgage in July 2005, Beckman became president of Citigroup’s Student Loan Corp. in 1997 and served as chief executive officer of the unit from 1998 until 2001. He also headed Citigroup’s specialty lending group before becoming president of real estate servicing and technology in April 2003.

Ken Thompson, Wachovia’s chief executive officer, is retiring at the request of the board of directors.

The Bank of New York Mellon appointed Scott Posner chief executive officer of its global corporate trust business.

There's some uncertainty in the application of the Shariah law in structuring securitization deals, which could hinder the market's growth. There was some heated discussion about this subject at Information Management Network's and European Securitization Forum's Global ABS conference in Cannes being held this week.

The mood at Information Management Network 's (IMN) and European Securitization Forum's (ESF) Global ABS has been surprisingly optimistic despite the fact that primary issuance so far this year has been off by roughly 50%. The gathering is being held in Cannes this week.

The exit of CDO chiefs from the major investment banks continue. ASR confirmed that Sebastiano Riva, the co-head of Lehman Brother's CLO group, has left the firm.

Fitch Ratings has downgraded the Insurer Financial Strength (IFS) ratings of CIFG Guaranty (CIFG) and its affiliates to 'CCC' from 'A-'.

A significantly smaller number of players are headed to the European Securitization Forum (ESF) and Information Management Network (IMN) Global ABS 2008 to be held in Cannes next week.

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

Whistlejacket Capital, Standard Chartered's (StanChart) $7 billion SIV, has successfully appealed against the legal action that sought out a $220 million repayment of debt owed to one of its creditors.

As the subprime crisis metastasized into a global liquidity crunch last year, Russian banks stopped issuing cross-border structured deals.

Credit performance continued to deteriorate in the May ABX remittance reports released last week.

With mortgage delinquencies on a perpetual trend upward, there is no shortage of nonperforming loans in the market.

The Italian government is proposing a new decree that allows for loan modifications. This change is aimed at making mortgage debt more affordable for certain borrowers, resembling recent U.S. government loan modification initiatives.

Europe has had to take a long, hard look at the internal workings of its securitization industry. What has resulted is a long line of market initiatives that will help shape the future of the market and presumably avoid any catastrophic loss for future deals.

The bond insurers will soon be subject to new accounting rules intended to bring greater transparency and consistency of reporting practices at a time that is perhaps the most difficult in the industry's history, an environment most recently illustrated by the first-quarter loss reported by Financial Guaranty Insurance Co.

In the war against rising mortgage delinquencies, industry participants have rallied together to develop a loan modification framework that would not only help borrowers continue to pay their mortgage obligations, but also maximize proceeds for investors.

Credit Suisse recently reorganized its structured products group and CDO group. These changes come after the firm shut down origination activity, cut positions and reduced its risk exposure over the past year, according to an internal memo at the bank.

The Department of Education has revealed more details about its plan to promote liquidity for FFELP lenders, shedding light on two programs - loan purchase and short-term liquidity facilities - included in the recently enacted "Ensuring Continued Access to Student Loans Act of 2008."

The ABS new issue market was slow to almost nonexistent last week, coming off the Memorial Day holiday.