New issuance of non-mortgage ABS fell 6.6 percent last year even though the market’s biggest segment pushed to a new post-crash high, according to a new Inside MBS & ABS analysis. A total of $173.05 billion of non-mortgage ABS were issued in 2015, the second-highest annual output since 2008. The direction, however, was less encouraging. New issuance tumbled 17.1 percent from the third to the fourth quarter, sinking to $30.69 billion – the lowest three-month total in over three years. But with record sales in the U.S. auto industry, securitization of vehicle-finance contracts increased...[Includes two data tables]
The average daily trading volume for agency MBS fell to a yearly low of $149.2 billion in December, as trading desks from coast to coast continued to assess how to make money in what’s become a business of tight profit margins. Late this week, Barclays Bank unveiled a massive restructuring of its MBS and whole-loan trading business, cutting the number of employees in the division – including traders – down to 50 from roughly 100. As a structural matter, the bank is moving...
Four of the top five ABS issuers in 2015 were closely linked to the auto industry, including the most productive issuer in the market, Ford Motor Credit.
An ugly reality for land owners, mortgage lenders and others: the National Flood Insurance Program is currently $23 billion in debt and in dire need of reform.
With residential production falling by as much as 20 percent in the fourth quarter, a handful of lenders recently have either pulled out of the retail market entirely or pared back their traditional branch networks. Included in the club of retail quitters are such firms as Ditech Financial – ranked 13th overall in fundings – and Stonegate Mortgage, which began its pullback in November. Also heading for the retail exit is BankUnited, Miami Lakes, FL. All three are...
The Mortgage Bankers Association and flood insurance providers expressed support for legislation that would ensure the continued availability of federal flood insurance and, at the same time, facilitate the development of a private market for flood insurance. Industry representatives called for appropriate and timely long-term reforms to improve the National Flood Insurance Program, which provides mandatory flood insurance through private “write-your-own” flood insurance providers. Having gone through several extensions by Congress, the NFIP is scheduled to expire on Sept. 30, 2017, hence the call for private capital to provide flood coverage outside the NFIP. Testifying on behalf of the MBA during a recent House Financial Services Committee hearing, Steven Bradshaw, executive vice president of Standard Mortgage, said...
Part of the $5.1 billion settlement amount Goldman Sachs agreed to in principle with the federal government last week will be used to provide relief for homeowners who owe more than the current appraised value of their homes. The agreement would resolve an ongoing investigation by the Residential Mortgage-Backed Securities Working Group of the U.S. Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force, which President Obama established in 2009 to pursue those who played a role in causing the financial crisis. The tentative agreement would resolve...
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