Financial Regulatory Forum

SAO PAULO, March 1 (Reuters) – Growth prospects for Brazil’s asset-backed securities market have diminished significantly since regulators last month banned the use of retail investors’ money to buy such instruments, capital markets information service International Financing Review said on Monday.

In Brazil, specialized investors for years bought the securities probably with the help of retail money, which was parked in their portfolios alongside other types of funds, IFR said.

But after the securities regulator CVM changed the rules, new issues are expected to virtually ground to a halt growing only to about 550 million reais ($305 million) by year-end, IFR said.

Brazil’s ABS market, which has around $5 billion in outstanding securities, was expected to grow sharply this year despite an imminent increase in interest rates, IFR said.

Already about 500 million reais ($280 million) of the securities had been sold, according to CVM data.

– The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are his own –

By Neil Unmack

LONDON, Jan 5 (Reuters Breakingviews) -The key number is $7 trillion. That’s the value of bank debt that needs to be refinanced in the next three years, according to Moody’s. It’s probably more than can be raised by relying solely on bank balance sheets, and central banks are planning to withdraw their support. Securitisation of bank assets looks like a good way to reduce the refinancing burden.

But the world has changed. In the credit boom, banks would sell off doubtful loans with abandon. New accounting rules and the looming regulatory requirement to retain a larger chunk of the risk in securitised loans is supposed to curb such excesses. That may also make securitisation less attractive.

By Mark Felsenthal and Al Yoon
WASHINGTON/NEW YORK, Aug 17 (Reuters) – The U.S. Federal Reserve moved on Monday to boost credit to the ailing market for commercial real estate by extending to mid-2010 an emergency lending program.

(more…)

By George Chen, Asia Private Equity Correspondent

HONG KONG, Aug 17 (Reuters) – China’s $200 billion sovereign wealth fund, which lost big on its ill-timed 2007 Morgan Stanley and Blackstone bets, plans to invest up to $2 billion in U.S. mortgages as it eyes a property market rebound, two people with direct knowledge of the matter said Monday. (more…)