Nancy Handal, managing director of insurance conglomerate MetLife, oversees a $70 billion fixed-income portfolio and a $6 billion “high-yield” residential MBS opportunity fund – but has bought into just one jumbo MBS deal over the past few years. And she’s not shy about the reasons why: it’s all about disclosures. Handal is not happy about what non-agency issuers disclose and in particular she’s dismayed that MBS investors are essentially frozen out of the due-diligence process. Speaking at a housing forum sponsored by the Urban Institute and CoreLogic this week, the MetLife executive expressed...
In just a matter of days, JPMorgan Chase agreed to two separate settlements totaling $17.5 billion to resolve federal and state civil claims as well as representation and warranty and servicing claims involving residential MBS. On Nov. 19, the Department of Justice, along with other federal and state agencies, announced a $13 billion settlement with JPMorgan, which acknowledged making misrepresentations about billions of dollars in MBS sold to investors prior to Jan. 1, 2009. The settlement is said to be the largest combination of damages and civil fines for a single entity in U.S. history. Most of the damage was inflicted...
At a Senate Banking Committee hearing, Sen. Robert Menendez, D-NJ, criticized FHFA Acting Director Ed DeMarco for his plan to reduce both the conforming loan limit and the high-cost limit.
The regulatory regime currently contemplated in government-sponsored enterprise reform legislation in the Senate doesn’t go far enough, according to officials at the Federal Housing Finance Agency and others. At a hearing this week by the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, Alfred Pollard, general counsel at the FHFA, testified that the regulatory functions included in GSE reform legislation from Sens. Bob Corker, R-TN, and Mark Warner, D-VA, should be enhanced. “Making regulatory authority clear and explicit, including where appropriate the ability to establish prudential standards, set capital requirements and take enforcement actions, would enhance...
Any policies employed by federal regulators that restrict mortgage lending in localities that use eminent domain to seize underwater mortgages would violate anti-discrimination laws, according to a group of House Democrats. In letters to two government agencies, a group of 10 Democrat lawmakers led by Minnesota Rep. Keith Ellison said the Federal Housing Finance Agency should continue to provide access to government-sponsored enterprise MBS guaranties and the Department of Housing and Urban Development should allow FHA mortgage insurance in such communities. “To deny such access would be illegal under the Fair Housing Act and would violate credit discrimination laws,” according to a draft of the letters obtained by Inside MBS & ABS. An FHFA spokesman confirmed...
Members of the Federal Open Market Committee kicked around various approaches to winding down the central bank’s third installment of quantitative easing during their policy meeting last month, but ultimately didn’t budge the ship off its bearings. Recently released minutes of the Oct. 29-30 FMOC policy meeting revealed that participants “generally expected that the data would prove consistent with the committee’s outlook for ongoing improvement in labor-market conditions and would thus warrant trimming the pace of purchases in coming months.” However, committee members also considered...
Industry observers who closely follow the GSEs predict that other private-equity firms and hedge funds will continue to buy the preferred and common shares of Fannie and Freddie, believing they can flip the stock for a quick profit or receive a pay-out down the road.
Lobbyists and analysts who track the market are unanimous on one key issue: GSE loan limits. From what we’re told, Watt will shelve any thought of lowering the Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac mortgage limit in 2014.
It is all but certain that the Federal Housing Finance Agency will soon have its first permanent and confirmed director since the agency’s inception, following the move late this week by Senate Democrats to invoke the “nuclear option” for presidential nominees. The Senate voted 52 to 48 to change its own rules to permit most executive and judicial nominees to pass by a simple majority vote.
RSS