The Treasury Market Practices Group announced last week that a margining recommendation for agency MBS initially set to be implemented in June will be delayed until the end of 2013. The provisions apply to primary dealers working with four broad categories of forward-settling agency MBS transactions as part of an effort to manage counterparty exposures. The implementation date was delayed in response to concerns from market participants. Timothy Cameron, managing director and head of the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association’s asset management group, said buy-side participants need to negotiate agreements for each of their accounts, which can include thousands of documents. “It is clear many market participants will not be able...

The International Accounting Standards Board has proposed an accounting treatment that would force holders of all but the most senior tranche of an MBS to account for those assets at fair value through net income – something that has the Mortgage Bankers Association expressing concern. The MBA generally supports the introduction of fair value through an “other comprehensive income” (OCI) classification for financial assets held within a business model in which assets are managed both in order to collect contractual cash flows and for possible sale, according to James Gross, vice president of financial accounting and public policy for the trade group. However, the MBA has...

A white paper issued last week by the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association recommends that a Securities and Exchange Commission mandated, but still nascent, automated securities monitoring system should and will eventually incorporate ABS and MBS products into its field of supervision. Last summer, the SEC approved a final rule requiring national securities exchanges, known as SROs, to establish a consolidated audit trail. The SEC rule requires securities exchanges and securities associations to submit to the SEC a plan to create a CAT system that will capture information regarding securities quotes and orders. In particular, the CAT system will have to track...

Fannie Mae received high, but not quite perfect, marks from the Federal Housing Finance Agency in its compliance with the FHFA’s Conservatorship Scorecard.

The Conference of State Bank Supervisors is calling upon the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to adopt a petition process to define “rural” counties as the bureau prepares to implement balloon “qualified mortgage” and escrow requirements for rural lenders.

New non-agency MBS settlements and issuance.

Profits on originations by independent mortgage banks and mortgage subsidiaries of chartered banks declined in the fourth quarter of 2012 compared with the previous quarter, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac suffered lower losses on their nonprime mortgage holdings in 2012 compared with previous years as mortgage performance has stabilized and investor demand for vintage non-agency mortgage-backed securities has increased.

Fannie Mae said Tuesday that the GSE expects to remain profitable “for the foreseeable future” after posting fourth quarter 2012 earnings of $7.6 billion and annual net income of $17.2 billion, the best quarterly and yearly showing in the company’s history.

Home loan-related consumer delinquencies, including those having to do with home equity lending, dropped across the board in the fourth quarter, the first time in a year, according to new data released Tuesday by the American Bankers Association.