The average daily trading volume in agency MBS declined to $202.4 billion in February, one of the worst readings over the past six months, according to figures compiled by the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association. In January, volume was a bit healthier at $229.8 billion, but that was before concerns began to mount about President Trump’s business agenda and how successful the new White House might be in rolling back regulations – financial and otherwise. As Inside MBS & ABS went to press this week, fears were...
Presumably the bureau is going to keep bringing enforcement actions like this until a final resolution is reached curbing its authority, the attorney noted…
Observers of the subprime auto ABS market are raising concerns as delinquencies rise above peaks seen during the financial crisis as lenders have loosened underwriting standards in search of market share. According to Fitch Ratings’ index of subprime auto ABS, 60+ day delinquencies on loans backing the securities hit 5.45 percent at the end of 2016. Delinquencies were up from 4.70 percent at the end of 2015 and 41 basis points higher than the peak for the sector in 2009. The index tracks an outstanding balance of $38.6 billion from 149 transactions. There were 21 active shelves in the index, up from 12 active issuers in 2010. “Smaller lenders along with recent new entrants are...
Housing finance reform, especially if it weakens mortgage underwriting standards, could have a negative impact on private-label MBS as well as the government-sponsored enterprises’ credit risk-transfer transactions, according to a newly published report from Moody’s Investor Services. Analysts said that various reform proposals could reduce the influence that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have in the market and likely increase credit risk in new MBS in the short-term. Combined with a rising interest rate environment, such reform could have a credit-negative effect. Loan origination processes and the kinds of loans produced could become...
Wells Fargo, Deutsche Bank and the Royal Bank of Scotland have agreed to pay investors $165 million to resolve allegations of misrepresenting the quality of mortgage loans underlying securities issued by now-defunct subprime lender NovaStar Mortgage. The agreement was announced last week subject to approval by Judge Deborah Batts of the U.S. District Court for the Second District of New York, according to a report by Reuters. At issue is $7.7 billion in residential MBS delivered into various trusts and sold to investors, including pension funds, prior to the housing crash. A multi-employer union pension plan led by the New Jersey Carpenters Health Fund filed...
Last year was a decent enough year for the student loan sector, and so far this year, the space is looking dramatically more robust, according to analysts at the DBRS ratings service. New issuance so far in 2017 is more than twice that from the same period last year, with volume exceeding $4.5 billion, according to Jon Riber, a senior U.S. ABS ratings analyst at DBRS. “There are...
Publicly traded mortgage-banking firms had a rough ride in 2016, which turned out to be a turning point for one of the sector’s stalwarts, PHH Mortgage. The nine publicly traded mortgage lenders tracked by Inside Mortgage Trends posted a combined $563.8 million in net income on their mortgage-banking operations during the fourth quarter. That was up sharply from the third quarter, but it was not enough to offset huge combined losses during the first half of ... [Includes one data chart]
Most lenders aren’t currently using so-called next-generation mortgage technology service providers, according to a survey conducted by Fannie Mae. High costs are among the reasons keeping many lenders from adopting technology that could ease the burdens borrowers face when obtaining a mortgage. Some 63.0 percent of the 184 lenders surveyed by Fannie in November said they haven’t used next-gen tech providers. Fannie released the survey results ...
Mortgage bankers ended a very good year in 2016 on a somewhat offbeat note as overall company profits sagged and production margins shrank. The average mortgage-banking operation generated $3.513 million in pretax income during the fourth quarter of 2016, according to the latest data from the Mortgage Bankers Association. That was down 10.8 percent from the average pretax income in the trade group’s third-quarter Mortgage Bankers Performance report ...
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