Progressives and other “Dump DeMarco” advocates are looking to a “Plan B” to replace the current acting head should Rep. Mel Watt’s nomination be significantly prolonged or even stall.
The National Association of Federal Credit Unions is apprehensive about the unintended consequences of the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s decision to limit Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac future mortgage purchases to ‘qualified mortgages’ as defined by the final rule issued earlier this year by the CFPB. Earlier this month, the FHFA directed the two government-sponsored enterprises to limit their future mortgage acquisitions to loans that meet the requirements for a qualified mortgage, including those that meet the special or...
While non-agency MBS participants largely oppose a credit rating assignment system proposed by Sen. Al Franken, D-MN, some of the main players in the market endorse a model based on ratings rotation. At a roundtable hosted by the Securities and Exchange Commission this week, Martin Hughes, CEO of Redwood Trust, said issuer-paid rating conflicts could be reduced by requiring non-agency MBS issuers to alternate rating services so that one firm didn’t rate more than two consecutive deals from the issuer. He noted that Redwood has established a self-imposed rotation between Moody’s Investors Service and Standard & Poor’s on its non-agency MBS issuance. “The requirement to frequently alternate among the nationally recognized...
Freddie Mac is offering $1.0 billion of its non-agency MBS holdings for sale, according to a spokesman for the government-sponsored enterprise, part of efforts to meet requirements set by the Federal Housing Finance Agency. Fannie Mae also plans asset sales of some sort, but wouldn’t commit to selling its non-agency MBS holdings. Freddie held $70.28 billion in non-agency MBS at the end of the first quarter of 2013 and Fannie held $31.22 billion. The GSEs purchased the non-agency MBS before 2009 and have allowed the holdings to run off ever since. The FHFA recently required...
RSS