Documents pertaining to the conservatorship of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and the controversial change that strips the government-sponsored enterprises of net worth, will remain sealed, under a September court order in a lawsuit filed by private GSE shareholders. Judge Margaret Sweeney’s ruling in Fairholme Funds v. The United States went in favor of the Federal Housing Finance Agency to keep the documents under “protected information,” denying a motion by Fairholme to release the documents. Charles Cooper, attorney with Cooper & Kirk, the law firm representing the investors, told...
The Federal Reserve’s Open Market Committee this week fulfilled the expectations of roughly half the Wall Street participants and economists surveyed by financial news organizations and opted to hold the line on interest rates, and to maintain the status quo when it comes to the Fed’s massive balance sheet holdings of agency residential MBS and debt. “We recognize that there has been a great deal of focus on today’s policy decision,” Fed Chair Janet Yellen said in her press conference after the FOMC’s two-day meeting concluded Thursday afternoon. “The recovery from the Great Recession has advanced sufficiently far, and domestic spending appears sufficiently robust, that an argument can be made for a rise in interest rates at this time. We discussed this possibility at our meeting. “However, in light of the heightened uncertainties abroad, and a slightly softer expected path for inflation, the committee judged...
Ginnie Mae is lowering the guaranty fee for a GNMA Platinum security to get more investors to use the program. “We want to encourage utilization of the program by lowering the g-fee to an amount sufficient for investors to create a platinum security, which will increase the administrative, pricing and distribution efficiency of the program,” said John Getchis, Ginnie senior vice president of capital markets. Platinum securities allow...
PHH Mortgage – which handles originations for a number of financial firms on a private-label basis – was the largest IO lender in the nation with $7.19 billion funded during the first half.
In an analysis of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loan-level loss data, Fitch Ratings concluded that while similar, there are differences between loss severities among loans with similar profiles. Fannie disclosed its loan-level loss data in late July to increase transparency to the market as it plans for an actual-loss credit offering in the fourth quarter. Fannie’s loan-level loss data was comparable to historical loss severities for its liquidated mortgages and the fixed loss-severity schedules used in its Connecticut Avenue Securities risk-transfer deals, said the Fitch report this week. All CAS risk-sharing transactions have passed...
Meanwhile, there’s a school of thought that believes if and when the Fed hikes, mortgage rates will fall because it will show investors that the central bank is acting to curb inflation.
Nearly a year has passed since the Structured Finance Industry Group released documents relating to the RMBS 3.0 project and the leader of the Treasury Department’s non-agency reform efforts left the Treasury in May. However, at the ABS East conference sponsored by Information Management Network this week in Miami, industry participants noted that progress is being made on both initiatives. Panel sessions on reforming the non-agency mortgage-backed securities markets have been a staple at industry conferences since 2008, and some observers question whether much progress has been made. “I think...
With a lack of consensus from industry participants, let alone members of Congress, regarding how to reform the government-sponsored enterprises, the risk-sharing transactions implemented by the GSEs in recent years are seen as one possible model for increasing private capital investment in the mortgage market. Stanford Kurland, chairman and CEO of PennyMac Financial Services, suggested that the predominant risk-sharing transactions used by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have significant limitations. In an opinion piece published last week in the American Banker, Kurland said front-end risk-sharing “should be a bridge to long-term reform.” The main risk-sharing efforts completed by the GSEs are...
The Common Securitization Platform currently under development for use by the government-sponsored enterprises has seen some twists and turns regarding potential use for non-agency mortgage-backed securities. Various officials working on the CSP stressed this week at the ABS East conference in Miami that the focus for the platform is activity by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. “The platform is adaptable, but our focus is on the enterprises,” said David Applegate, CEO of Common Securitization Solutions, the Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac joint venture that is developing the CSP. At the conference produced by Information Management Network, he noted...
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