Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac executed various forms of credit-risk transfers last year that covered $548.0 billion of mortgages, a 30.4 percent increase over the amount covered by CRT activity in the previous year, according to a new report from the Federal Housing Finance Agency. The performance met the “scorecard” targets issued by their regulator. In total, the two government-sponsored enterprises transferred $17.9 billion of risk in 2016, most of it through their debt note programs. Fannie’s Connecticut Avenue Securities and Freddie’s Structured Agency Credit Risk programs accounted for 72.1 percent of risk transferred last year, the FHFA said. Reinsurance, the next biggest category, accounted...[Includes one data table]
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin made it clear after being nominated that resolving the conservatorships of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac would be a top priority for his department. And although Mnuchin will clearly be a player in the debate, the policy “ax” on the issue will be Craig Phillips, recently tapped to serve as counselor with an agenda that includes fixing the two government-sponsored enterprises. Most mortgage professionals have applauded President Trump’s pick of Mnuchin and now Phillips. Mnuchin was the former head of Goldman Sachs’ MBS department, and Phillips was a former managing director of Morgan Stanley’s fixed-income division. Phillips was...
There was little change in the amount of agency MBS held by the Federal Reserve in 2016 compared to the previous year, although the account generated a whopping $46.3 billion in net interest income last year. The 2016 net interest gains from Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae MBS were down slightly from 2015, when the Fed reported $49.0 billion, according to an independent annual audit of the Fed. Conducted by KPMG, the audit estimated...
Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae issued a total of $215.0 billion in collateralized mortgage obligations and real estate mortgage investment conduits last year, according to a new analysis by Inside MBS & ABS. Agency CMO/REMIC production was up 14.1 percent from 2015, slightly lower than the 17.5 percent increase in agency MBS pass-through issuance. Freddie was...[Includes one data table]
But isn’t the job of a conservator to preserve assets? If CRT deals are bad financially for Fannie and Freddie, isn’t it time to pull the plug on them?...
However, on Wednesday, five members of the Senate Banking Committee wrote to FHFA Director Mel Watt, warning him against taking any administrative action that might alter the dividend payment.
The GSEs have developed proposals to more closely align their mortgage insurance master policies with their reps-and-warranties policies, which will be reviewed by the FHFA this year.
But the issue is hardly settled. Ron Haynie, senior vice president of mortgage policy at the ICBA, told Inside Mortgage Finance that he expects a change in the dividend payment this year.
Joe Farr, director of marketing for MBS Quoteline, said MBS prices have actually improved since the Federal Reserve’s decision to hike rates one week ago.
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