Securitization

More details emerged this week on Redwood Trust's new RMBS deal. The mortgage REIT told ASR last month that it planned to issue its fourth transaction early 1Q12.

Standard & Poor's expects CLO portfolio credit to be stable this year, said the agency's analysts in an emailed report released this morning.

Freddie Mac reported mortgage rates eased to new record lows for all products in its survey for the week ending Jan. 12.

The small size and poor liquidity of lower-rated CMBS tranches have curbed demand for this paper among large buyers, said Ethan Penner, president of CBRE Capital Partners.

Law firm Paul Hastings added a partner to its leveraged finance practice in Europe.

Golub Capital Partners is close to launching a $250 million middle-market CLO, arranged by Wells Fargo, according to a report from Moody’s Investors Service.

Oak Hill Advisors has promoted Alexandra Jung, Adam Kertzner, Jeffrey Kirt and Thomas Wong to partners of the firm.

Stonegate Mortgage Corp. has hired former Irwin Mortgage Corp. executive John F. Macke as executive vice president of capital markets in line with growth plans that include the introduction of non-agency Jumbos this year.

To date, the 12 Federal Home Loan Banks have recognized more than $4.4 billion of losses on their investments in private-label mortgage-backed securities, according to the Federal Housing Finance Agency.

Two senior Federal Reserve officials called on policymakers to take steps quickly to help ease the pain of the housing market to assist ongoing efforts to rescue the U.S. economy.

Independent ratings and analytics firm Rapid Ratings said that Jeffrey Gibb has joined the firm as senior vice president of strategic relations and head of legal operations.

Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP) has made an addition to its banking and capital markets (BCM) group. The firm has hired structured finance specialist Prashanth Satyadeva.

Financial institutions looking to wind down assets not related to core banking functions — especially those with large consumer credit exposure — will continue to face challenges given ongoing volatility in the credit and equities markets, according to a Fitch Ratings report.

The Royal Bank of Scotland plc and NatWest are marketing a $500 million credit card ABS under its Arran Cards Funding program.

Assured Guaranty filed a brief today in the New York state Supreme Court against a motion to dismiss its case against Credit Suisse.

As was expected, with the conclusion of the year-end holidays, mortgage application activity increased 4.5% on a seasonally adjusted basis in the week ending Jan. 6.

Michael Williams, the president and CEO of Fannie Mae, announced plans to step down as soon as a successor can be appointed, according to a company filing issued Tuesday to the Securities and Exchange Commission.

PHH Corp., Mt. Laurel, N.J., is now looking to sell $150 million in debt to help pay off $250 million of debt that matures in April.

Bank of America is gearing up to sell large chunks of its residential servicing portfolio on a regular basis as it continues to whittle down its presence in the mortgage market, according to servicing advisors and investors who have been briefed on the bank's plans.

Federal Housing Administration (FHA) loans once served a broad spectrum of borrowers until the subprime mortgage meltdown came along and pushed lenders to tighten underwriting standards and credit score requirements.