Securitization

President Obama's decision to create a new task force to investigate risky lending and securitization practices leading up to the financial crisis could complicate and delay a potential $25 billion settlement involving foreclosure and servicing abuses.Participants in the ongoing 'robo-signing' settlement negotiations recently signaled that they could be close to an agreement with the government.

The attorney General of Illinois Lisa Madigan sued McGraw Hill Cos., Standard & Poor's Financial Services and its business unit Standard & Poor's Ratings Services.

Private-label RMBS can experience a significant increase in losses in the coming months, according to a recent analysis by R&R Consulting.

Bond insurer Assured Guaranty has reached a three-part deal with Radian Asset that expands Assured Guaranty’s portfolio and business.

U.K. supermarket retailer Tesco PLC is in the market with its GBP450 million ($703 million) credit tenant lease securitization called Tesco Property Finance 5 Plc.

Fannie Mae's final multifamily issuance numbers for 2011 are in and they reflect a 50% increase from the previous year, according to an executive at the GSE.

Former Fannie Mae CEO Daniel Mudd, who was named last month in a mortgage-related Securities and Exchange Commission fraud suit, has officially resigned from publicly traded investment manager Fortress Investment Group and its board, ending a leave of absence.

Citigroup will no longer purchase "medium or high-risk" loans that could result in buyback requests from Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac, in the bank's latest effort to improve the quality of mortgages it buys from correspondent lenders, according to an internal memo obtained by ASR sister publication American Banker.

President Obama's State of the Union address included a section on refinancing initiatives that will strike a chord with mortgage investors, a Barclays Capital report said.

Realogy Corp. plans to issue roughly $593 million of senior secured first lien notes due 2020 and around $325 million of senior secured notes due 2020 in a private placement.

With both refinancing and purchase activity lower, mortgage application activity declined 5.0% in the week ending Jan. 20.

Dutch mortgage originator Obvion yesterday announced the first Dutch RMBS of the year, Storm 2012-I.

It would cost Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac almost $100 billion to write down the principal on the underwater loans they control to current market values, according to a new estimate released by the Federal Housing Finance Agency.

The state attorney general leading settlement talks with the country's top mortgage servicers batted down speculation Monday that a deal had been reached.

RIFCO National Auto Finance Corp. has received a new, $20 million securitization facility through Aviator Trust.

Panelists on the credit card panel at ASF 2012 said that on a relative value basis the asset class has performed well, although it has seen some recent technical dislocation.

With the whole market still unsure of when home prices will hit rock bottom, investors remain wary of the private-label RMBS market.

Although there are channels of liquidity in the securitization market such as autos and CLOs, areas of dislocation remain because of regulatory uncertainty, according to panelists at ASF 2012 being held in Las Vegas this week.

In his welcome address at the American Securitization Forum’s (ASF) ASF 2012, Ralph Daloisio, managing director at Natixis, referred back to 2011 as “the year of revival.”

A regulatory proposal to require a minimum downpayment of 20% on 'qualified residential mortgages' will make it more expensive for first-time homebuyers to obtain private mortgages, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.