In a past audit, the OIG criticized the FHFA for lacking a “sufficient number of examiners.” In the new budget, the FHFA plans to increase its examinations head count to 275 from 248 in FY 2015.
This observer, requesting anonymity, said bluntly that the MBS “trade” is over, a summation that is bolstered in part by so many Wall Street firms either closing their trading desks or scaling back...
The hedging results of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac – including instruments bought to protect the value of agency MBS – had different results in the third quarter as interest rates unexpectedly declined and stayed low for several weeks. Overall, Fannie booked $2.6 billion of negative charges against the value of its derivatives in the third quarter while Freddie booked a much larger charge on its hedging activities: $4.2 billion. The differential did not pass...
The authors want the Treasury Department to end the quarterly profit sweep and allow Fannie and Freddie to raise about $100 billion in additional capital through several rounds of new common stock sales...
The Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association recently filed an amicus brief in support of the defendants to reverse a case in which the Federal Housing Finance Agency argued that Nomura Holdings sold shoddy MBS to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. In the case of FHFA vs. Nomura Holdings, a judge ruled in May, after a three-week bench trial, that Nomura and RBS Securities were liable for the claims brought by the FHFA and knowingly sold bad MBS to the government-sponsored enterprises before the 2008 financial crisis. The MBS were backed by mortgages with an unpaid principal balance of about $2.05 billion at the time of purchase. Nomura appealed...
Freddie Mac is preparing to sell its second “Whole Loan Securities” transaction, according to a presale report from Moody’s Investors Service. The planned $634.64 million deal will be structured like a non-agency mortgage-backed security with senior tranches and subordinate tranches. Unlike the first deal from the government-sponsored enterprise, the planned issuance received ratings on some of the subordinate tranches. The unrated senior ... [Includes three briefs]
loanDepot Inc. this week priced its much anticipated initial public offering, valuing its soon-to-be-listed shares – 34.5 million units in total – at $18 each or roughly $621 million, a lofty valuation for a company that owns just over $20.9 billion in mortgage servicing rights. Few in the industry are questioning loanDepot’s explosive growth since its inception five years ago, but eyebrows have been raised about the anticipated size of the deal. “It’s...
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