In a blow to ratings agencies, a federal court in New Mexico has ruled that the First Amendment does not necessarily protect ratings services from lawsuits filed by disgruntled MBS investors. Judge James Browning ruled that the characteristics of MBS issued by Thornburg Mortgage and the way the ratings were disseminated may preempt free speech protection. The suit dates back to the spring of 2009, when plaintiffs that include the Genesee County Employees’ Retirement System, Midwest Operating Engineers Pension Trust Fund and the Maryland-National Capital Park &...

It would be better for the mortgage market, for taxpayers and for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac if Congress did not dawdle in promulgating housing finance reform and clarified the future role, if any, the two government-sponsored enterprises will have, the CEOs of Fannie and Freddie told lawmakers this week. Testifying before the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, Fannie CEO Michael Williams and Freddie CEO Charles Haldeman called on Congress to take action as the continued lack of clarity about Fannie and Freddie’s future is harmful to...

Bank of America has settled two major securities fraud claims with various pensions funds and other investors in connection with Countrywide-related stocks and non-agency MBS. It also faces the prospect of a challenge by two state attorneys general, whose requests to intervene in another multi-billion dollar MBS case were granted by a New York federal court this week. The bank agreed to an undisclosed settlement amount with the California Public Employees’ Retirement System, the Government of Guam Retirement Fund and 14 other large pension and mutual fund investors. Accounting firm...

Commercial banks will have to do more than just look at the credit rating on a security before deciding it qualifies as a potential investment under a proposed rule issued by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency this week. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. is scheduled to consider a similar proposal next week. Under marching orders from the Dodd-Frank Act, bank regulators have been removing references to external credit ratings from a variety of regulations – even though banks themselves don’t agree with the change. Most commenters on earlier proposals from...

The chief of enforcement at the Securities and Exchange Commission took issue with a U.S. District Court judge’s rejection this week of the agency’s proposed $285 million settlement with Citigroup over a collateralized debt obligation backed by MBS that went sour, and defended the deal as the best available course of action, given the restrictions under current law. Robert Khuzami, director of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement, responded to a ruling announced early this week by U.S. District Court Judge Jed Rakoff in Manhattan in which the judge rejected the multi-million-dollar...

Most bond dealers expect the Federal Reserve to begin buying a substantial volume of MBS in an effort to stimulate an anemic economy, according to the results of a Bloomberg News survey of bond dealers. They project that the Fed could buy as much as $800 billion of MBS in 2012. The Fed would not respond to requests for comment regarding this plan, but the purchasing of MBS may be a part of a new round of quantitative easing for the market. Fed analysts claim that the agency’s first big MBS buying binge, between November 2008 and March 2010, helped push mortgage rates...

Non-agency participants maintain that the reinstatement of “emergency” high-cost loan limits for FHA loans – but not Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac – will not impede originations of non-agency jumbo mortgages. Meanwhile, some housing trade groups and congressmen representing high-cost districts continue to push for a reinstatement of the government-sponsored enterprises’ high-cost loan limits. In November, President Obama signed legislation that restored the maximum $729,750 loan limit for the highest-cost FHA markets ...

Fannie Mae recently started to transfer “higher-risk” mortgages to special servicers in an effort to improve performance, typically on non-prime loans. In its earnings filing for the third quarter of 2011, Fannie said it is “transferring servicing on loan populations that include loans with higher-risk characteristics to special servicers with whom we have worked to develop high-touch protocols.” The protocols include ... [Includes one data chart]

Saxon Mortgage prevailed in a closely watched case decided by the Arizona State Supreme Court in November. The 5-0 ruling determined that the recording of an assignment is not necessary to enforce a foreclosure under Arizona law. The decision in Vasquez v. Saxon Mortgage could have a wide-ranging impact, according to legal analysts. Jean Braucher, a professor of law at the University of Arizona, said the court essentially approved of servicers’ “sloppy procedures,” ...

Settlements regarding non-agency mortgage-backed securities are starting to increase as industry analysts suggest that the agreements limit the future liability faced by issuers. Bank of America and the Royal Bank of Scotland recently reached separate non-agency MBS settlements. At the end of October, BofA quietly settled with investors – including the Public Employees’ Retirement System of Mississippi – in 18 non-agency securities issued by Merrill Lynch. The settlement price was not disclosed but was reportedly $315.0 million. ...