Securitization

The New York Federal Reserve today has started a competitive bid process in response to several strong reverse inquiries for holdings in the two Triaxx CDOs in its Maiden Lane III portfolio (ML III).

The increasing number of potential buyers of CMBS B-pieces is positive for issuance in the sector, according to an emailed note from Standard & Poor's this morning.

Nonbank trade groups are calling on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) to narrow the definitions it will use to determine which nonbanks will be subject to federal supervision.

Home Loan Servicing Solutions (HLSS), a Grand Cayman-based company that was spun off of Ocwen in a Feb. 29 IPO, reported net income of $1.3 million for the first quarter.

Clean Power Finance, Morgan Stanley unit MS Solar Solutions Corp and Main Street Power Co. have announced the creation of MySolar, which is a residential solar lease facility that will offer funding for up to $300 million in projects.

Freddie Mac began purchasing Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP) 2.0 loans in January and by the end of the first quarter had acquired $5 billion of these refinances, according to the company’s first-quarter securities filing.

Independent third-party review firm Allonhill hired Maria Sedlack as director of investor relations management.

The debate on “principal forgiveness” goes on. Policymakers from Treasury secretary Timothy Geithner to numerous members of Congress are urging lenders and mortgage servicers to reduce loan balances to help homeowners remain in their houses and prevent additional foreclosures, given the fact that 12 million homeowners are “underwater” on their mortgages and in danger of defaulting.Even Christine Lagarde, the head of the International Monetary Fund, has called on the U.S. government to reduce mortgage debt “as a way to help revive that nation’s economy and stimulate growth in the wider industrialized world.”

Freddie Mac reported new record lows set on 30- and 15-year fixed mortgage rates as well as on one-year ARM rates for the week ending May 3.

GE Capital Corp., through its unit CEF Equipment Holding, has filed an S-3 with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to issue ABS. To access the full SEC filing, please click here.

Bond insurer Ambac Assurance Corp. on Monday requested to withdraw from a legal case for an $8.5 billion settlement with Bank of America concerning MBS.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) late Tuesday revealed that it gave Fannie Mae the green light to conduct a pilot program with Wells Fargo in March 2010 to test principal reduction modifications.

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Shaun Donovan will testify before Congress next Tuesday regarding efforts to allow more Americans to refinance their mortgages.

Intermodal container lessor Textainer Group Holdings has closed a $1.2 billion warehouse securitization facility.The new facility called Textainer Marine Containers II Limited (TMCLII) acquired a portion of the intermodal containers owned by Textainer Marine Containers Limited (TMCL), which is another asset owning subsidiary. TMCL used the proceeds it received from TMCLII to terminate its $850 million securitization facility.The interest rate on the TMCLII securitization facility is 2.625% over Libor during an initial two-year revolving period. If the TMCLII securitization facility is not refinanced or renewed after this period, the facility is structured to partially amortize in the next five years and then mature.

Moody's Investors Service has placed GMAC-RFC's servicer quality rating on review for possible downgrade.

Freddie Mac executive Anthony Renzi has accepted a senior mortgage job with Citigroup, after weighing a position with Wilbur Ross’ fast-growing mortgage empire, according to industry sources.ASR sister publication National Mortgage News (NMN) tweeted about Renzi’s job offers on its Web site early Monday afternoon.

Citigroup is arranging a $350 million CLO for the U.S. investment arm of Dutch insurer Aegon.

Gleacher & Co. Securities, a broker-dealer subsidiary of Gleacher & Co., has hired Perrin Arturi and Donald Ullmann as executive managing directors who will co-head the firm's MBS/ABS and rates division.

Moody’s Analytics has updated its risk management tool called Mortgage Portfolio Analyzer (MPA) to help retail portfolio managers manage the credit risk in their mortgage portfolios.

Mortgage application activity overall was essentially unchanged as slightly higher purchase activity was offset by a dip in refinancing.