Securitization

European funds have started raising money to buy deeply discounted collateral. Some smaller finance houses have even started to invest in mortgage servicing groups that deal with distressed paper.

Spirits were high in the ABS market last week, as banks continued to receive funding by way of the Federal Reserve's Term Securities Lending Facility (TSLF), market participants said.

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

The Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO) reported a 1.7% decline in its seasonally-adjusted purchase only house price index in 1Q08 from 4Q07.

Clifford Chance has hired Robert Villani for its financial products group as a partner in the New York office. Villani has diverse experience advising clients on different securitization structures.

BlackRock hired Craig Phillips as head of its financial markets advisory group, which is part of the firm's BlackRock Solutions arm. BlackRock Solutions helps institutional investors and financial services firms manage capital markets exposures.

UBS said today that it has closed on the sale of roughly $15 billion of primarily subprime and Alt-A U.S. RMBS to a newly created distressed asset fund that will be managed by BlackRock.

Fitch Ratings has placed the residential servicer ratings for Residential Capital (ResCap) on rating watch negative.

HBOS launched the first U.K. RMBS issue since the credit crisis erupted last summer.

CIFG Holding, the holding company for CIFG’s financial guaranty subsidiaries, responded to today's negative rating action by Moody’s Investors Service’s on the its credit ratings.

Moody's Investors Service downgraded the insurance financial strength ratings of CIFG Guaranty, CIFG Europe, and CIFG Assurance North America, collectively known as CIFG, to 'Ba2' from 'A1'. The rating agency kept the ratings under review with direction uncertain.

Moody's Investors Service's U.K. credit card indices are starting to show signs of potential deterioration, according to a release from the rating agency. The aggregate index delinquency rate increased for the third consecutive

The American Securitization Forum (ASF) today issued operational guidelines that assist mortgage loan servicers and counseling organizations in implementing procedures for reimbursing expenses that are associated with the provision of

Annaly Capital Management announced today that Kevin Riordan, previously commercial mortgage securities group managing director at TIAA-CREF, has joined the company.

Markit announced a new freely available licence for the Markit Reference Entity Database (RED), which is aimed at smaller buy-side firms.

J.G. Wentworth today announced that it has completed a $117 million securitization backed by structured settlement and annuity notes. This is the specialty finance firm's 18th securitization since 1997.

Fredrick Fellows, the former head of structured finance at Southwest Securities, announced the launch of a commercial real estate debt securities firm called Basalt Capital.

Mortgage Guaranty Insurance Corp. (MGIC), the primary subsidiary of MGIC Investment Corp., announced the promotion of Carla Gallas to senior vice president, claims. In her new position, Gallas will focus on MGIC's loss mitigation efforts and maximizing its efficiency in claim operations. Gallas has been with MGIC for 24 years and has held different positions in sales and underwriting, most recently serving as vice president, field operations.

With the field of active bond insurers having thinned out and credit spreads still blown out, leading Turkish banks have yet to revive their structured finance programs.

While private securitization markets in Europe have virtually shriveled up, banks and other issuers can still turn to a rich uncle: central banks will accept their RMBS paper as collateral for repo financing.