Wells Fargo and JPMorgan Chase continue to post strong residential finance profits, but there is a growing worry that the "mortgage party" may be drawing to a close.
Although Fannie Mae posted stellar – and record – earnings last week, the best is yet to come thanks to a $58.9 billion allowance for “deferred tax assets” the GSE is likely to capture when it releases earnings for the first quarter of 2013, a number that will be revealed some time in May. In its 10-K filing for 2012, Fannie did not absolutely say it will move to capture the DTA allowance in the first quarter, but notes that “if and when the valuation allowance is released, it will be included as income.” The GSE said it did not take the DTA in 2012 because it has not been steadily profitable for a long enough period of time. It noted that the decision was “complicated.”
GSE single-family securitizations rose just under 1.0 percent during the first three months of 2013, compared to the previous quarter, yet it was the single highest level since the second quarter of 2009 as mortgage lenders delivered $355.8 billion in home loans to Fannie Mae’s and Freddie Mac’s securitization programs, according to a new Inside The GSEs analysis. Fannie and Freddie activity peaked in January with GSE volume declining slightly in both February and March. January’s huge increase compared to the previous month may reflect lenders’ intent to hold secondary market sales until the new GSE representation and warranties went into effect on Jan. 1.
In a move designed to allow qualifying members to sell fixed-rate, conforming mortgage loans into the secondary market, the Federal Home Loan Bank of Dallas announced last week it has joined the Mortgage Partnership Finance Program and is now offering the MPF Xtra product. Under the MPF Xtra program, loans are sold through the FHLBank of Chicago to Fannie Mae as a third-party investor.
UBS Americas failed in its bid to shut down a lawsuit brought by the Federal Housing Finance Agency in connection with non-agency mortgage-backed securities purchased by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, while in another case three former Freddie executives lost their own bid to dismiss a Securities and Exchange Commission securities fraud case against them. The Second Circuit Court of Appeals last week upheld a lower court’s ruling that denied UBS’ motion to dismiss the FHFA’s suit as time barred. In the summer of 2011, the FHFA filed 18 lawsuits in Manhattan federal court against UBS and other big banks on behalf of the GSEs, alleging violations of the federal Securities Act of 1933 for approximately $200 billion in non-agency MBS sold to Fannie and Freddie.
A total of $47.13 billion of new non-mortgage ABS were issued during the first quarter of 2013, a solid 31.2 percent gain from the end of last year, according to a new Inside MBS & ABS analysis and ranking of issuers and underwriters. The fast start for 2013 ABS issuance was up 15.1 percent from the first three months of last year, although it came up short of three of the strongest quarters since the financial market meltdown in late 2008, including the second quarter of 2012. If new issuance can maintain its current pace for the rest of the year, 2013 could see the strongest ABS production volume since before the crash. The driver so far has been...[Includes two data charts]
In recent months, the Securities and Exchange Commission has looked into Regulation AB compliance issues regarding non-agency MBS issuance from 2010 and 2011 by Redwood Trust. The SEC questioned Redwood and others involved in the issuance regarding disclosures of servicing practices. An official at Redwood said the issue largely relates to the complicated nature of Redwood’s deals. In particular, issuance from Redwood often involves multiple servicers, each of which can be subject to Reg AB disclosure requirements. According to correspondence published this week by Redwood, the SEC first queried...
The new central counterparty for MBS trades is having a difficult time delivering results and is, in fact, experiencing a drawback because of stringent margin rules as well as other internal issues, according to financial advisory firm NewOak Capital Advisors. The regulated multilateral central counterparty trading platform for executing to-be-announced agency MBS is not at full power because most TBA participants are not doing what they are supposed to, observed Ron D’Vari, chief executive officer and co-founder of NewOak. “The key drawbacks are...
Primary market originators and due diligence providers say the elusive market in private placement MBS deals has been gaining strength this year. “We’re seeing three to five private deals a month,” said Jeff Taylor, managing partner of Digital Risk, a New York-based risk management and due diligence firm. As for the underlying product, it’s across the board, he added. “It can be jumbo, nonperforming, and re-performing.” But the deals are also much smaller than the rapidly growing public MBS deals. Digital Risk, which conducts due diligence reviews on the underlying collateral, said...
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