Lenders that offer “fix and flip” financing to single-family investors are having another good year for the most part and see little in the way of either stiff competition or dark clouds on the horizon.

A heavily redacted Federal Housing Finance Agency Inspector General management alert about credit scores, published in late July, involved Fannie Mae CEO Timothy Mayopoulos, sources confirm.The 15-page report only mentioned that a “senior executive” was involved in a conflict-of-interest administrative review pertaining to alternative credit scores. It said that the executive did not disclose “critical information” about potential conflicts of interest arising from a personal relationship. Based on the IG report, it seems that Mayopoulos did disclose and recuse himself from business decisions related to alternative credit scores. But the IG report appears to take issue with the fact that he did not “fully disclose” the information.

As a group, commercial banks and thrifts ended the second quarter of 2018 with slightly reduced holdings of single-family MBS, although several institutions raised their stakes in the market significantly, according to a new Inside MBS & ABS analysis and ranking. [Includes two data charts.]

The average daily trading volume in agency MBS fell to $204.1 billion in July, the weakest reading of the year, according to the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac appear to be on track for a June 2019 launch of the new uniform MBS, but the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association has yet to issue a formal declaration on to-be-announced eligibility for UMBS.

Thanks to higher interest rates and rock-solid valuations, the market for securities backed by mortgage servicing rights is beginning to heat up, with at least two deals hitting the market this month – one from PennyMac, the other from AmeriHome Mortgage.

The Department of Justice this week announced a $4.9 billion settlement with the Royal Bank of Scotland to resolve legacy-related claims that the bank misled investors on the quality of residential MBS they purchased from RBS between 2005 and 2008.

Mortgage servicers and investors often complain about long foreclosure timelines in states with a judicial foreclosure process, but Moody’s Investors Service said the delays will only marginally increase losses on residential MBS.

There are fewer structural protections in today’s speculative-grade securities backed by subprime auto loans compared to below-investment grade issuances in the 1990s, according to an S&P Global analysis of the subprime auto loan ABS sector.

Ginnie Mae officials described a two-pronged approach to assuring MBS investors that the agency is protecting their interests from the risk that issuers might fail to deliver principal and interest payments in a timely manner.