Officials at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac say pilot deals that feature added primary mortgage insurance at the front end of the securitization process are a useful addition to their credit-risk transfer programs even if their future looks somewhat limited. Speaking at a CRT conference in New York City this week, Robert Schaefer, Fannie’s vice president for credit enhancement strategy and management, called the transactions “a good tool in the toolkit,” but said he doesn’t see them taking over the majority of CRTs. Gina Healy, Freddie’s vice president of credit risk transfers, agreed...

The average daily trading volume in agency MBS totaled $195.7 billion in April, the lowest reading of the year and third worst over the past 12 months, according to figures compiled by the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association. The low trading volume is an indication that liquidity is drying up, but it also reflects a decline in new agency MBS being created. According to figures recently compiled by Inside MBS & ABS, lenders issued...

President Trump’s tax plan would raise the federal debt, but could benefit residential MBS, consumer ABS and asset-backed commercial paper, depending mostly on the effect on the underlying obligors’ after-tax income, according to a recent research report from Moody’s Investors Service. “The administration’s blueprint proposes a reduction in the corporate tax rate to 15 percent from 35 percent, which would also apply to partnerships and other ‘pass-through’ businesses that are currently taxed through their principals’ individual returns,” analysts explained. The White House plan also features...

The non-agency MBS market is set to receive a jolt as Wells Fargo plans to return to the space. “This year, one of our aspirations is to come back to the market with a couple of deals,” said Franklin Codel, a senior executive vice president of consumer lending at Wells. “We’re taking a look to make sure we can structure those properly … to try to test the market and see what we can do to bring some confidence back to the private-label market.” The official mentioned the plans late last week during an investor event hosted by Wells. Back in 2007, Wells ranked...

Real estate investment trusts that focus on the MBS market recorded a modest increase in their MBS holdings during the first quarter of 2017, according to an Inside MBS & ABS analysis. And observers say a pending change in how Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac structure their credit-risk transfer programs may boost REIT participation further. The 15 mortgage REITs tracked by Inside MBS & ABS reported a combined $230.82 billion of MBS investment at the end of March, including assets held in the to-be-announced market. That was up 1.6 percent from the end of 2016, though it was still off from year-ago levels. Some 91.8 percent of REIT MBS holdings are...[Includes one data table]

The Financial Services Roundtable recently called for enacting comprehensive housing finance reform, including reform of the FHA’s single-family mortgage insurance program while focusing the agency’s mission on first-time and low- and moderate-income borrowers. The FSR’s call came in a detailed response to President Trump’s executive order earlier this year directing the Treasury Department to conduct an assessment of financial regulations. For starters, the trade group urged...

Craig Phillips, counselor to the Treasury secretary, recently spoke about the importance of credit-risk transfers, the role of private capital in the mortgage market and burdensome regulations. During a credit-risk transfer symposium in New York City earlier this week, he said it’s important to grow participation in the government-sponsored enterprises’ CRT programs. “Every dollar of risk today is a dollar less of taxpayer risk,” said Phillips. “In my view we should continue...

For the most part, several different factions of the mortgage industry have applauded the move by the Federal Housing Finance Agency to allow Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to build some type of capital buffer. Now comes the hard part: the details. Early this week, FHFA Acting Deputy Director of the Division of Conservatorship Bob Ryan said in a speech that the capital buffer plan would entail a delay of dividend payments to the U.S. Treasury Department – not an elimination of them. No other specifics were provided...

Transfers of servicing from large servicers to smaller firms can help improve loss mitigation performance while introducing new risks to the system, according to industry analysts. Smaller servicers tend to be more “nimble” than large servicers and are better suited to handle distressed mortgages, according to analysts at Moody’s Investors Service. The rating service published a report recently highlighting changes in the servicing industry. Many large servicers, predominantly banks, have reduced...

The latest twist in the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s enforcement of the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act involves certain co-marketing activities. It has recently come to light that the CFPB is investigating Zillow for possible RESPA violations apparently having to do with the firm’s practice of co-marketing with loan officers, real estate agents and mortgage lenders. “For years, many industry participants wondered if allowing their real estate agents or loan officers to engage in co-marketing on Zillow Group applications and websites posed a risk to their companies under RESPA. The industry may soon know the answer,” Richard Andreano, a partner at the Ballard Spahr law firm in Washington, DC, noted in a recent online blog post. Andreano’s post cited...