In collateralized fund obligations, general partners typically purchase the fund assets of limited partners, allowing the GPs to add leverage and the LPs to diversify their holdings and gain liquidity.

Uniti Group expanded its involvement in the ABS market with its first transaction backed by residential fiber network assets.

SFA launches survey of fraud detection and mitigation; Housing Policy Council appoints Alexander Jackson; Nada Holdings enters into a $150 million forward flow purchase agreement.

FHFA quietly increased the cap on the GSEs’ holdings of agency MBS from $40 billion apiece to $225 billion. That’s the same as the cap on their entire retained mortgage portfolios.

Interest rate and spread volatility has declined in recent months. That’s leading to a reduction in potential returns from agency MBS along with a more stable investing environment.

Freddie continues to lead Fannie in issuance of specified-pool MBS. In the fourth quarter, there were relatively large gains in pools of mortgages with loan amounts below $275,000, as well as pools of Texas loans. (Includes data table.)

Investors are seeking out Ginnie Mae custom pools with better convexity profiles than those of forward trading multiple-issuer pools, causing the convexity of the multi-pools to further deteriorate.

Lower interest rates and potential policy changes are expected to help drive an increase in prepayment activity this year.

A change in how MBS deals are rated led to more than 1,000 upgrades for tranches of deals backed by HELs and seasoned mortgages.

The deal will expand Pagaya’s point-of-sale platform. The fintech also launched a revolving asset-backed funding structure this month.