CMBS transparency now required by law!

With great fanfare today, President Obama signed the financial reform bill into law. Many times over the past several months, I thought this legislation would die, but this is a big, important deal. And now the law is clear: Transparency is required for securitized products. The big question is whether the SEC enacts rules and […]

CREFC Conference

I attended the Commercial Real Estate Finance Council’s Future of Commercial Real Estate Finance conference in New York City June 14-16. This year’s conference, formerly held by CMSA, was different in that its forum structure provided sessions for six different groups: securities and loan investors, issuers, servicers, portfolio lenders, investment-grade bondholders and multifamily lenders. The […]

MBA servicing and technology conference

I am just returning from New York City where I attended MBA’s Commercial/Multifamily Servicing and Technology Conference 2010. Most of the major master, special and primary servicers attended. The proposed SEC changes to Regulation AB were discussed at almost every panel. XML acceptance A well-attended special session focused on the proposed new regulations and the MBA […]

Regulation AB Reform

In addition to the rating agency rules that go into effect on June 2, the SEC has asked for public comment on extensive changes to SEC securitization rules, known as Regulation AB.

Rating agency reform

I attended the CREFC After-Work Seminar – SEC Disclosure Requirements this week on the new SEC rule (Rule 17g-5) that goes into effect June 2. The rule is designed to address the perceived conflict of interest that rating agencies have as a result of issuers paying for ratings. The rule requires issuers and hired rating agencies to […]

New clients, expanded features and other fun

We have been jammed getting two new clients live (one Backshop license and one CMBS data user) and delivering major loan servicing features for an existing client. As we finish up, we are turning our attention to doing a Backshop enterprise software delivery, launching our document service and closing more business.

SEC acts on rating agency disclosure!

I assumed the SEC wouldn’t begin making new rules on disclosure until Congress/Obama passed the financial reform bill. Wrong. Last week, the SEC proposed a bunch of new securitization rules that represent real change and are already drawing controversy.

Senate moves transparency front and center

This week the U.S. Senate released its version of financial reform with a bill titled “Restoring American Financial Stability Act of 2010.” Like the House bill passed last year, this bill, among other things, stresses the importance of transparency. In fact, the first line of the Senate Bill says it purpose is “To promote the […]

MISMO focus for 2010

We had our monthly MISMO status call yesterday and started implementing our 2010 strategic plan. The group is focused on pushing the adoption of the rent roll and operating standards to help achieve transparency and mitigate risk. We all feel this is a “make or break” year for MISMO, so we want to give a […]

Whistler!

I spent the weekend skiing with a group of industry guys. Our annual trip is usually in Aspen, but this year we ventured to Whistler. It’s a boys trip with a rocking crew that works in lending, advisory, servicing and legal. Not much discussion about standards, rent rolls and MISMO, but I got a few […]