The Securities and Exchange Commission is coming down the home stretch in a project that has raised jitters in the MBS and ABS market: a review of the credit rating process for structured finance transactions that will conclude with reform recommendations for Congress. Embedded in the Dodd-Frank Act was a provision authored by Sen. Al Franken, D-MN, that requires the SEC to study potential conflicts of interest in issuer-pay and subscriber-pay compensation models used in the credit rating process. Franken originally proposed that the SEC be required to create a process through which a new government entity would assign...

Relatively few repurchase demands on mortgage loans backing non-agency MBS were resolved during the first quarter of 2012, according to a new Inside MBS & ABS analysis of disclosure filings made by 34 securitizers. The securitizers reported that a total of $29.03 billion of loans were in some stage of the process following demands that the mortgages be repurchased because of breaches of representations and warranties by the originator of the loans. But of that amount, some $28.62 billion – 98.6 percent of total activity – were classified...(includes one data chart)

Roughly 27 percent of outstanding Ginnie Mae MBS pools are eligible for the FHA’s revised streamline refinancing program, which could translate to $36 billion in new annual Ginnie Mae issuance, according to a report from Barclays Research. Barclays analysts estimated that about $293.0 billion of Ginnie Mae’s $1 trillion-plus 30-year loan pools were originated before May 2009. About 79 percent of the collateral backing these pools are FHA loans, which suggests that as much as $232.0 billion could qualify...

When it comes to modifying non-agency mortgages, early loan modifications greatly increase the rate of success, and principal reductions are the most effective type of loan mod, according to a new study by the MBS strategy group at Amherst Securities Group. “Modification activity has undergone a dramatic reshaping over the past few years, which has dramatically improved modification success,” the study said. “In particular, payment reductions are much larger now, and that is...

Leading Senate Democrats and Republicans have been moving cautiously to advance legislation to expand the Home Affordable Refinance Program, although industry observers say the odds are long the measure will see meaningful Congressional action before the legislative clock runs out. Senate Banking Committee Chairman Tim Johnson, D-SD, and Sen. Richard Shelby, R-AL, the committee’s ranking member, have been working on an agreement to ensure that the proposed amendments to the legislation in a markup would be strictly narrowed to making changes to HARP. However, Shelby is pushing to permit any provision on housing finance to be considered...

In an unusual move, the federal judge overseeing the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s massive legal action against many of the nation’s biggest MBS issuers has granted a defendant the right to appeal her denial of its motion to dismiss. Last week, Judge Denise Cote of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York granted permission to UBS Americas to go over her head to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. UBS hopes the appellate court will reverse...

The gap between the performance and liquidity of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac MBS continues to widen and a proposal to make their securities interchangeable is gaining traction among stakeholders. But unless a workable valuation solution is found, bridging that gap between the two government-sponsored enterprises will remain nearly impossible, said the Mortgage Bankers Association. Pricing differences between Fannie and Freddie have grown...

Despite warning lawmakers to avoid looking at Fannie Mae’s and Freddie Mac’s guarantee fees as a (mostly) untapped revenue stream to pay for pet projects, mortgage industry officials say they remain on high alert to repel raids from a cash-hungry Congress. G-fees on Fannie and Freddie single-family mortgage-backed securities have been edging higher over the past year and in April took a 10 basis point leap higher. While there is debate within the industry whether to hike or to hold g-fees as a way to further a post-crisis recovery, all agree that the funds the GSEs charge lenders must stay with Fannie and Freddie.

Despite indications of heightened risk that the Federal Housing Finance Agency initially missed, the Federal Home Loan Banks substantially increased their unsecured lending to foreign financial institutions in 2010 and 2011, particularly in Europe, according to a report issued this week by the FHFA’s official watchdog. The FHFA’s Office of Inspector General noted that unsecured lending by the FHLBanks swelled from $66 billion at the end of 2008 to more than $120 billion by early 2011, but declined sharply by year-end 2011, as the European sovereign debt crisis continued to worsen.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency should “expeditiously finalize” its long-awaited analysis as to whether Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will be allowed to offer principal forgiveness modifications under the Treasury Department’s Home Affordable Modification Program, according to the Government Accountability Office. In a report issued late this week, the GAO reminded the FHFA that the Obama administration’s loan modification program, which would be used to implement any principal reductions, expires at the end of December 2013.