PHH Mortgage – which handles originations for a number of financial firms on a private-label basis – was the largest IO lender in the nation with $7.19 billion funded during the first half.

Documents pertaining to the conservatorship of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and the controversial change that strips the government-sponsored enterprises of net worth, will remain sealed, under a September court order in a lawsuit filed by private GSE shareholders. Judge Margaret Sweeney’s ruling in Fairholme Funds v. The United States went in favor of the Federal Housing Finance Agency to keep the documents under “protected information,” denying a motion by Fairholme to release the documents. Charles Cooper, attorney with Cooper & Kirk, the law firm representing the investors, told...

The Federal Reserve’s Open Market Committee this week fulfilled the expectations of roughly half the Wall Street participants and economists surveyed by financial news organizations and opted to hold the line on interest rates, and to maintain the status quo when it comes to the Fed’s massive balance sheet holdings of agency residential MBS and debt. “We recognize that there has been a great deal of focus on today’s policy decision,” Fed Chair Janet Yellen said in her press conference after the FOMC’s two-day meeting concluded Thursday afternoon. “The recovery from the Great Recession has advanced sufficiently far, and domestic spending appears sufficiently robust, that an argument can be made for a rise in interest rates at this time. We discussed this possibility at our meeting. “However, in light of the heightened uncertainties abroad, and a slightly softer expected path for inflation, the committee judged...

Mortgage securitization rates in 2015 are still low compared to last year, but some of the decline is likely due to the lag between primary market origination and MBS issuance. For the first six months of the year, new MBS issuance represented 73.8 percent of total originations, according to a new Inside MBS & ABS analysis. That’s down from a 75.4 percent securitization rate for all of 2014. Securitization rates are...[Includes one data table]

Despite strong earnings from the MI sector the past year, regulatory scrutiny remains, particularly in efforts by an NAIC working group to develop risk-based capital standards...

David Applegate, CEO of Common Securitization Solutions, revealed this week that the joint venture owned by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac has finished much of the work for a major milestone in the common securitization platform. Although officials promised more information about the timeline next year, the government-sponsored enterprises’ use of the CSP – let alone the GSE single security – looks to be a ways off. At the ABS East conference produced by Information Management Network this week in Miami, Applegate said CSS has completed about 90 percent of the work required for single-class security issuance by Freddie on the CSP. Officials at CSS, the GSEs and the Federal Housing Finance Agency revealed this week that Freddie would be the first to test the system, and that Fannie would go on board at a later date, when issuance of the interchangeable single security will begin. The officials also noted...

Despite the 90 percent estimate offered by Applegate, the government-sponsored enterprises’ use of the CSP – let alone the GSE single security – looks to be a ways off.

A stable private mortgage insurance industry is expected to emerge as the residential real estate market continues its recovery but uncertainty related to new risk-based regulatory capital standards from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners could derail or hinder progress, according to a new analysis by Fitch Ratings. So far, the MI industry has returned to profitability with more stability in the market and the continued presence of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in the residential market. Stronger regulatory standards bode well for the industry’s stability as well, Fitch noted. The long-term viability of the MI industry does not appear...

Lender compensation of loan originators has become a whole new world now that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has taken over enforcement for many lenders. During an Inside Mortgage Finance webinar this week, three top legal experts spelled out multiple lessons lenders should learn if they wish to avoid the fate that has befallen some of their peers at the hands of the CFPB. Kristie Kully, a partner with the K&L Gates law firm, drew a number of key take-aways from the first such enforcement action brought by the bureau, which occurred in November 2013, when the CFPB accused Castle & Cook and two of its executives of paying illegal bonuses for steering consumers into costlier mortgages. More specifically, the bureau alleged...

The Department of Justice has announced a new, far-reaching policy regarding individual accountability for corporate misconduct – a change that could significantly affect the way mortgage lenders and securitization participants cooperate with the agency in criminal and civil investigations. A product of a DOJ working group, the new policy is the culmination of the DOJ’s gradual shift towards demanding greater individual accountability and addresses criticism, since the 2008 financial crisis, about the lack of individual accountability in corporate settlements with the DOJ and the Securities and Exchange Commission, particularly mortgage-related civil lawsuits. Under the new policy, corporations must provide...