Securitization

Recent revisions made to the Home Affordable Refinancing Program (HARP) appear to have sparked an increase in loan applications, raising hopes that more underwater mortgages could refinance.

Henderson Global Investors has hired John Feeney as head of real estate debt in its secured credit team.

Ally Bank is going to issue a $1 billion auto transaction under its Ally Auto Receivables Trust 2012-2. For the Securities and Exchange Commission filing related to the deal, please click here.

Home Loan Servicing Solutions (HLSS) – an entity whose sole mission in life is to buy servicing rights from Ocwen Financial Corp. – finally went public this week, raising roughly $186 million in cash.

More details are highlighted on bond insurer MBIA's reported losses in the fourth quarter of 2011 from yesterday's article from ASR sister publication The Bond Buyer.

Turning foreclosed properties into rentals on a mass scale will reduce "some of the fears that an avalanche of distressed properties" will rattle the housing market, according to a new report from Wells Fargo Securities (WFS).

Credit card charge-offs are expected to remain low in 2012 for as long as bankcard trusts maintain their current credit characteristics, Standard & Poor's said in an emailed note this morning.

February closed with more of the same impressive spread tightening that CMBS experienced over the past month, according to a Trepp report.

Volkswagen AG has priced its €930 million ($1.23 billion) German auto loan securitization called VCL 15.

JGWPT Holdings named Lior Yahalomi its new chief financial officer and executive vice president.

Arbor Realty Trust appointed William Green to its board of directors as an independent member effective immediately.

After popping up eight basis points last week after holding at a record low 3.87% for three weeks, 30-year fixed mortgage rates declined five basis points to 3.90% for the week ending March 1, according to Freddie Mac's survey.

There's more than one kind of CLO revival underway. Issuance of CLOs in the quasi-public 144A market has picked up dramatically since the financial crisis, thanks to the strong performance of existing vehicles. But, market observers say there has also been a pick-up in issuance of CLOs that are truly private, which have proprietary structures and only a handful of participants.

Banks are applying a well-honed strategy to mitigate regulators' recent proposal to determine capital requirements for assets that include securitizations.

With the Dodd-Frank Act giving the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) regulatory oversight over private student loans, issuers in the asset class must now work closely with the agency as it formulates rules to govern the sector.

The state attorneys general announced last month that they finally reached a settlement with the five largest servicers over improper foreclosure and servicing practices.

In recent Senate comments, Federal Reserve Governor Elizabeth A. Duke said that "the failure of the housing market to respond to lower interest rates as vigorously as it has in the past indicates that factors other than financial conditions may be restraining improvement in mortgage credit and housing market conditions." She is absolutely correct. Aside from the overhang of problem loans, housing remains weak because dislocations in the primary mortgage market have limited the availability of mortgage funds. Unless mortgage lending moves to a stronger footing and can better serve the broad housing market, home prices will remain under pressure.

With the housing market apparently showing long awaited signs of stability, it's not hard to understand why a program allowing investors to purchase the government's stock of real-estate-owned (REO) homes in bulk and rent them out is generating so much buzz.

As securitization players seek out new collateral, their relationship with the government has lurched between friend and foe.