The majority of the American Securitization Forum’s board of directors resigned recently and a number of significant members have quit the trade group due to concerns about governance of the ASF and bonuses paid to Tom Deutsch, the group’s executive director. The problems stem from the ASF’s abrupt separation from the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association in early 2010. “The separation and related negotiations from SIFMA have frankly been messier and more difficult than anyone expected,” Deutsch said this week, indicating that while the groups separated in 2010 and appeared to operate independently, the split was never quite finished. “We look forward to concluding those negotiations with SIFMA in short order and keeping our focus on the key tasks of meeting the looming implementation challenges of the Dodd-Frank Act.” SIFMA officials refused...
Credit Suisse has adjusted the representations and warranties included in each of its recent non-agency MBS deals, reacting to criticism from investors that the reps and warrants do not meet models set by the American Securitization Forum. While the new jumbo MBS issued by Credit Suisse last week made some improvements on reps and warrants compared with its previous deals, the issuer continues to experiment with somewhat looser standards. “Credit Suisse has introduced several new elements to the rep and warrant structure in recent securitizations which has caused some diverging opinions in the securitization community,” according to analysts at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. “While the ASF has provided a starting point with their model reps, it will likely take the market some time to find the right balance between investors and originators.” Issuance from Redwood Trust has been seen...
New issuance of agency single-family MBS fell 3.1 percent from January to February, according to a new Inside MBS & ABS analysis and ranking. On a combined basis, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae issued $153.4 billion in new single-family MBS last month. That was up 31.6 percent from February 2012 and compared favorably with the $138.5 billion monthly average issuance for all of last year. All of the decline came...[Includes one data chart]
Mortgage originations last year increased by some $435 billion from 2011 and virtually all of that gain came from refinance activity. Unless housing activity begins to grow significantly faster, mortgage lending volume appears likely to drop significantly in 2013. Prodded along by the suddenly successful Home Affordable Refinance Program, refi lending increased by $403 billion last year, a 41.9 percent increase over 2011. And although a number of indicators suggested that housing sales were beginning to firm up, home-purchase mortgage originations were up just 6.3 percent – a gain of $32 billion – compared to the previous year. In fact, purchase-mortgage originations have been...[Includes three data charts]
Billions of dollars in mortgage servicing rights have changed hands over the past two years – and the selling is far from over. The question now is how much more will be sold by the end of 2013. According to analysts who cover nonbank buyers of MSRs – and other sources – $1 trillion to $1.5 trillion in rights could transfer over the coming 18 to 24 months, though some of that is in the form of subservicing contracts. “Over the next year the figure could be...
RSS