Company hires and sector developments

CRT credit event

HSBC’s Metrix series 2015-1 CLN has suffered another credit event. The issuer received a credit event notice confirming that a bankruptcy credit event occurred on 15 March with respect to a reference entity that is believed to be Interserve, which was recently sold out of administration after shareholders rejected a rescue deal for the company. The Metrix risk transfer transaction had previously been hit by a credit event, following the liquidation of Carillion last year (SCI 19 January 2018).

ECB adopts collateral framework

The ECB announced last week it will adopt the new transparency requirements of the Securitisation Regulation (the new ESMA reporting templates) for its collateral framework in the future. The new reporting standards are going to apply for new securitisation transactions – those issued after 1 January - but only if two conditions are fulfilled: one, the new ESMA reporting templates have been adopted and two, at least one securitisation repository has been registered with ESMA. Three months after both conditions are fulfilled, the new reporting templates will become a requirement for ECB repo eligibility.

Older transactions, issued prior to 1 January 2019, will not be subject to the new reporting templates, and will be grandfathered for at least three years to use the current ECB reporting templates. Rabobank comments that these announcements are positive developments, as in the end there will only be one reporting template, both for the purposes of complying with the Securitisation Regulation, as well to ECB repo eligibility requirements.

GSE makes senior hire

Fannie Mae has appointed Hugh Frater as ceo, having previously served as interim ceo since October 2018 and sat on the GSE’s board since 2016. Frater currently serves as non-executive chairman of VEREIT and formerly led Berkadia Commercial Mortgage as chairman and ceo. Earlier in his career, he was an evp at PNC Financial Services and a founding partner and md of BlackRock.

High-profile prosecutor poached

Moses & Singer has hired Howard Fischer as partner in its New York office. Fischer served as senior trial counsel at the US SEC over the last decade and prosecuted high profile cases against both the "London Whale", JPMorgan Chase trader Bruno Iksil, and an investment advisor that featured in "The Big Short" (Wing Chau).  At Moses & Singer, he will be working in the firm's white collar defense and securities and financial litigation practices, while also sharing his expertise with other relevant practice groups.      

MBS desk bulks up

BOK Financial has strengthened its MBS desk with the hiring of Steve Palmer and Sung Cho to head its new issue CMO and agency CMO derivative businesses. Palmer previously traded non-agency CMOs at JPMorgan, before running the mortgage platform at BNY Mellon and then building out the new issue CMO platform at Keybanc. Cho previously worked at Merrill Lynch, JPMorgan, Barclays and Citi, and has expertise in valuation of CMO cashflows.

Third STS ABS announced

A third transaction verified as STS compliant has been posted on ESMA’s STS register.  According to Rabobank, the transaction is a French RMBS transaction dubbed Private Harmony French Home Loans FCT. Further details are not yet available.