Securitization

The shadow banking system is down but not out. That's the conclusion reached by the Deloitte Center for Financial Services in a new report that examines the scope and the relevance of a sector that has received its fair share of blame for causing the financial crisis.Deloitte says that assets controlled by the shadow banking system — including ABS and MBS —have declined by more than 50% in the last four years, to $9.53 trillion at Dec. 31. As a result of this sharp decline, the traditional banking sector that four years ago was smaller than the shadow banking system is now roughly $8 trillion larger, according to Deloitte.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Thursday afternoon served official notice that it is seeking comment on a range of issues — including the cost of potential litigation — and whether debt-to-income ratios should be used to determine a borrower’s “ability to repay” a residential loan.

3i Debt Management is buying the majority of Invesco’s European collateralized loan obligation business, the companies said today.

Freddie Mac reported 30- and 15-year fixed mortgage rates set new lows in the week ending May 31.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has decided to delay the issuance of a final ‘Qualified Mortgage’ (QM) rule until after the Nov. 6 elections, industry officials told ASR sister publication National Mortgage News.

Fitch Ratings and Kroll Bond Ratings will rate the $1.1 billion CMBS conduit deal backed by 61 fixed-rate commercial mortgage loans that are secured by 80 properties.

How long can a good thing last? Writeoffs of credit card loans have already plunged below levels that issuers consider sustainable. Continued improvement in delinquencies points to a further dip in loss rates in the months ahead.

The commercial mortgage-backed security delinquency rate reached an all-time high in May at 10.04%, up 24 basis points from the prior month, according to the latest data from Trepp.

The president and chief executive of the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) David Stevens is stepping down after one year to become the president of SunTrust Mortgage.

Mortgage application activity eased 1.3% in the week ending May 25 with both refinancing and purchase activity lower.

Fitch Ratings has assigned preliminary ratings to the student loan ABS issued by Academic Loan Funding Trust (ALFT) 2012-1.

Clopton Capital is offering a hotel construction program for owners and developers of hospitality properties nationwide. This targets developments with total costs between $5 million and $20 million.

Standard & Poor's in a note released today said that it expects easing underwriting standards to drive subprime auto collateral losses modestly higher versus current historical low levels.

Freddie Mac acquired almost $26 billion of residential loans during April, a steep 38% decline from the month prior, a sign that originations may be slowing — or that the GSE is losing business to its cross-town rival.

DBRS has released its methodology for rating U.S. letter of credit (LOC)-supported structured finance deals.

World Omni Financial Corp. today filed a prospectus supplement with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to issue under its World Omni Automobile Lease Securitization Trust 2012-A.

U.K.-based Clydesdale Bank is planning to issue new covered bonds from its regulated covered bond program.

The Treasury Department’s decision to raise the amount servicers can pay second-mortgage holders for a lien release should give its short sales program a boost, according to an industry expert.Second-lien holders can veto any short sale so Treasury raised the buyout limit by $2,500 to $8,500 in March along with other improvements to its Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives (HAFA) program.

Allied Irish Bank (AIB) has signed HML to offer the U.K.’s first 48 hour "hot’"standby servicing arrangement for the issuer's £437.6 million ($683 million) securitization of U.K. mortgage assets.

Standard & Poors last week upgraded 17 tranches from four CLOs. The rating agency upgraded four tranches to 'AAA' and downgraded a tranche from 'BB' to 'B'.