May 2011

The process of transforming 2,000 pages of Dodd-Frank into 25,000 pages of regulations is well under way. Front and center is Risk Retention. I assume you, like me, have been studying the 300 plus pages of the proposed Risk Retention rules (known to the cognoscenti as the Risk Retention “NPR”) for the past several weeks getting ready for the June 10th deadline for comments, right? Oddly, almost a full month passed before the government actually posted the NPR to the Federal Register, something which is usually done in a matter of days. (Tea leaf readers, thoughts?)

We have visited Risk Retention in this Blog before, but today we want to really focus on premium capture as it seems to capture all that is wrong with the NPR. My first reaction to reading the words on the page: Where the hell did this come from? On the fifth read, same reaction. There was nary a hint of the premium capture monstrosity in either Dodd-Frank or in the whispering about the rule-making process before the NPR came out.  Continue Reading Premium Capture Kerfuffle: The Poster Child of What’s Wrong with Risk Retention

On May 5, SIFMA hosted a Spotlight Series: Risk Retention and Qualified Residential Mortgages.  It was immediately apparent that unintended consequences of the proposed risk retention rules (pdf) abound.

The panelists acknowledged that the regulators had a very tough mandate, and that the rules are way more complicated than anticipated.  It was estimated that approximately 60% of the proposed rule will make its way to the final rule, and that while feelings of annoyance with respect to the drafting of the proposed rule may linger, it is up to the securitization market participants to help the regulators provide us with a clear, workable final rule.

Under the proposed rule, calculation of the amount of required risk retention would be based on a percentage of the par value of the ABS interests in an issuing entity.  The discussion began with a couple questions some of us have already been asking …

What do regulators mean by “par value”?  What is an “ABS interest”?Continue Reading SIFMA Spotlight Series: Risk Retention and Qualified Residential Mortgages

Writing from the Acela again, en route to Back Bay Station after a short trip to New York to attend a CREFC After-Work Seminar we hosted. The space at our Bryant Park offices was full – I took a seat in the last row next to interim CEO John D’Amico (he seemed really pleased with the turnout). The meeting was the latest in a series of after-work seminars that CREFC is holding throughout the country (next stop is Dallas). The topic – “A Case Study in Lending from the Perspective of Both Portfolio and Conduit Lenders” – was moderated by Whit Wilcox (HFF) and included panelists Michael Shields (ING Real Estate Finance), Mike Doyle (CIGNA) and Schecky Schechner (Barclays Capital). The panel explored their thinking on loan applications from the perspective of the three corners of the CRE banking world – life insurance companies, bank balance sheet lenders and CMBS conduit lenders.Continue Reading Dechert Hosts CREFC After-Work Seminar