The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. would be prohibited from repudiating covered bonds when resolving a failed banking institution under the provisions of a controversial housing reform bill put together by the Republican leadership of the House Financial Services Committee and passed out of committee last week. That prohibition would go a long way toward resolving the long-standing hurdles that have thwarted development of a covered bond market in the United States. But it also amps up the level of controversy associated with H.R. 2767, the Protecting American Taxpayers and Homeowners Act of 2013, introduced by Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling, R-TX, and Rep. Scott Garrett, R-NJ, the architect of a covered bonds bill introduced in the 112th Congress. The relevant provisions in the PATH Act are...

Fannie Mae said that, assuming publication of the CFPB final rule comes in the fall, more information will be available later in 2013 on implementation plans.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency, after months of interviewing executive search firms, has hired the Washington-based Spencer Stuart to find a chief executive to man the helm of the “common securitization platform” project being developed by the two government-sponsored enterprises. According to sources familiar with the regulator’s plans, the starting salary for the job is in the range of $450,000, plus benefits. Sources say FHFA has handed...

Some servicers have retroactively applied losses to non-agency MBS from principal forbearance completed long ago even after suggesting that such losses were unlikely. Analysts warn that further losses are likely, at the expense of investors in the senior tranches of non-agency MBS. In May, some 170 non-agency MBS serviced by Ocwen Financial took combined losses of more than $1.0 billion due to accounting for principal forbearance that occurred before July 2012. The retroactive losses should have been reported at the time of the loan modification, according to guidelines for the Home Affordable Modification Program. The losses were included in remittance reports for May after servicing on the deals transferred from Homeward Residential to Ocwen. Later, 231 non-agency MBS serviced by Nationstar Mortgage took...

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac this week reported a combined $15.1 billion in net income during the second quarter of 2013, as the two government-sponsored enterprises came closer to having paid the government as much in dividends as they have taken in bailout funds. Fannie reported $10.1 billion in net income, the company’s sixth consecutive quarterly profit. During the first quarter, Fannie posted $58.7 billion in net income, boosted by its release of $50.6 billion in deferred tax assets. Under the revised conservatorship arrangement, any GSE net worth exceeding $3.0 billion is forked...

The three government MBS agencies issued $144.26 billion of single-family MBS last month, down 3 percent from June’s level. It was the lowest monthly production level so far in 2013.

Industry reaction to Obama’s speech was generally favorable, particularly as it related to his call for continued, unfettered access to the 30-year FRM.

Stated-income loans are being offered at 5.49 percent as long as the borrower puts down 20 percent. Meanwhile, Walter wants to keep its contract terms with Fannie Mae secret.

Redwood Trust had a $2.6 billion pipeline of non-agency jumbo mortgages at the end of the second quarter of 2013. While that usually wouldn’t cause much concern for the real estate investment trust, the loans were originated before interest rates on 30-year fixed-rate non-agency jumbos spiked by 100 basis points. The increase, beginning in mid-May, caused spreads on non-agency jumbo MBS to widen significantly. However, officials at Redwood stressed this week that the non-agency MBS market didn’t ...

PennyMac Mortgage Investment Trust plans to issue its first non-agency jumbo mortgage-backed security in the third quarter of 2013 by combining $393.0 million of non-agency jumbos it recently acquired in a bulk transaction with mortgages from its correspondent lenders. The real estate investment trust said it acquired $107.0 million in non-agency jumbos via its conduit in the second quarter, along with $8.0 million in the first three months of 2013. “Jumbo originations have been affected by the ...