On October 9, Fitch released its U.S. RMBS surveillance criteria. Fitch Report.
On October 9, S&P released a request for comment on its methodology and assumptions for rating Japanese CMBS. Comments must be submitted by November 11. S&P Release.
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On August 21, S&P released its asset isolation and SPE criteria for Canadian structured finance transactions. S&P Release.
On August 19, Fitch released its insurance rating methodology. Fitch Report.
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On August 14, Judge Curtis E.A. Karnow of the Superior Court of California, County of San Francisco, denied Standard & Poor’s motion to dismiss a suit by the State of California. The Attorney General’s claims under the False Claim Acts and other statutes allege over $600 million in losses to investors, including state pension funds, due to S&P’s allegedly knowingly faulty ratings of RMBS. S&P argued that any injury to the state pension funds was not to “money” of the State, which it maintained is a requirement for a claim under the False Claim Act, and also that the suit was time-barred. The court denied the motion, concluding that S&P had not established that the lost money in the case did not constitute a potential or actual injury to the public treasury, and that the complaint sufficiently alleges discovery of the alleged wrongdoing within three years of the 2011 tolling agreement between the parties. Decision.
On August 2, Fitch released its criteria for the rating of distressed debt exchanges. Fitch Release.
On August 1, Fitch released its criteria for the use of lenders’ mortgage insurance (LMI) in RMBS transactions. Fitch Release.
On August 1, Fitch released its criteria for rating RMBS and covered bonds supported by residential mortgages in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region. Fitch Release.
On July 29, S&P released a request for comment on proposed changes to its criteria for rating global non-diversified auto dealer floorplan ABS. Comments must be submitted by September 27. S&P Release.
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On July 26, Fitch released its criteria for rating servicing continuity risk in structured finance transactions. Fitch Report.
On July 25, Fitch released its criteria for rating state house financing agencies’ single-family mortgage programs. Fitch Report.
On July 22, S&P released its criteria for rating CMBS credit-tenant lease transactions. S&P Report.
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On July 16, Judge David O. Carter of the Federal District Court for the Central District of California denied Standard & Poor’s Financial Service LLC’s (S&P) motion to dismiss the U.S. government’s $5 billion fraud suit alleging that S&P intentionally issued false credit ratings of mortgage backed securities. In denying the motion, the court rejected S&P’s arguments that its statements about the securities were “puffery,” that the complaint fails to plead facts showing that the credit ratings were false or misleading, and that the complaint fails to plead scienter. The government’s claims are for civil penalties for alleged violations of criminal mail fraud, wire fraud and financial institution fraud statutes. Decision. Orrick covered this recent development and the Financial Institutions Reform Recovery Enforcement Act (FIRREA) here.
On July 12, S&P released a request for comment on its methodology and assumptions for rating U.S. small business loan-backed securitizations. Comments must be submitted by August 15. S&P Report.
On July 10, Fitch released its criteria for rating U.S. tobacco settlement ABS. Fitch Report.
On July 10, Fitch released its criteria for rating trust-preferred CDOs. Fitch Report.
On July 9, Fitch released its EMEA consumer ABS rating criteria, along with the related auto residual value addendum. Fitch Report (Consumer ABS). Fitch Report (Auto Residual Value Addendum).
On July 3, Fitch released its distressed debt exchange criteria for structured finance. Fitch Report.
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On June 20, Moody’s released its methodology for assessing tail risk in Australian RMBS transactions. Moody’s Report.
On June 19, Moody’s released its U.S. RMBS surveillance methodology. Moody’s Report.
On June 19, KBRA released its financial guaranty rating methodology. KBRA Report.
On June 18, Fitch released its criteria for rating future flow securitizations. Fitch Report.
On June 18, S&P released an advance notice of proposed criteria change for non-financial corporate issuers. S&P Release.
On June 17, Fitch released its criteria for rating thermal power projects. Fitch Report.
On June 14, Fitch released its criteria for rating letter of credit-supported bonds. Fitch Report.
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On June 6, the United States Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation issued a transfer order consolidating consumer fraud and securities actions brought by the attorneys general of fifteen states against Standard & Poor’s Financial Services LLC (S&P) and two related declaratory judgment actions brought by S&P. The state attorneys general suits, which had been pending in fifteen separate federal district courts, allege that S&P (and Moody’s Investor Service, Inc., in one of the cases) mischaracterized its independence in rating mortgage-backed securities and collateralized debt obligations. The Panel noted that the actions implicated common factual issues and centralized the actions in the federal district court for the Southern District of New York. Transfer Order.
