The proposed alignment of the qualified residential mortgage rule with existing mortgage risk retention standards will ease the underwriting and securitization of prime borrower loans but are the rules too lenient on borrowers?

Brigade Capital Management is issuing its first collateralized loan obligation of the year.

Volkswagen extended its Driver auto loan securitization franchise into the French market via the €491 million ($650M)Driver France FCT Compartiment 2013-1 transaction.

John Deere priced $849 million of notes backed by equipment installment sale contracts,

Federal regulators on Wednesday proposed aligning new securitization requirements with a recent Consumer Financial Protection Bureau underwriting rule in a move likely to please banks and housing advocates.

The French reinsurer, SCOR Global Life plans to issue a mortality insurance –linked securitization called Atlas IX Capital Ltd.

GoldenTree Asset Management hired Brian Marshall as managing director for the firm’s business development group, the firm said.

Wells Fargo reported that auto loans outstanding increased at an 8.5% rate on a year-over-year basis in Q2 2013 but auto loan abs issuance has not kept pace.

Standard & Poor’s reported today that August securitization issuance slowed to $1.4 billion ($1.87 billion).

Insurance companies have focused on higher yielding paper, within benchmark ABS asset classes in their 2013 new issue investments, according to a JP Morgan report.

Despite announcing that a deal would be ready in “weeks,” FeatherStone has yet to select a ratings agency to rate the deal, nor has the group selected a lead underwriter to lead the transaction.