Firms participating in the Public-Private Investment Program with a focus on non-agency mortgage-backed securities all took losses in the fourth quarter of 2011 compared with the previous quarter, according to an analysis by Inside Nonconforming Markets. The Oaktree PPIP Fund – which only invests in commercial MBS – was the only public-private investment fund to increase its net internal rate of return since inception in the fourth quarter of 2011, Treasury Department data show. The Treasury cautioned that it is ... [Includes one data chart]

Investors have expressed a keen interest in programs that would facilitate bulk sales of real estate-owned properties. However, few are optimistic that such a program will come to fruition. Based on cost figures provided by Carrington Holding Company, Vincent Fiorillo, a portfolio manager at DoubleLine Capital, suggested investors could easily earn returns of 9.0 percent by renting REO properties. “This is a very attractive alternative investment opportunity,” Fiorillo said at the American Securitization Forum’s ASF 2012 conference last week in Las Vegas ...

A new proposal by the Obama administration to refinance non-agency mortgages with negative equity could have a major impact on the non-agency market, though approval by Congress appears unlikely. “Borrowers with standard non-GSE loans will have access to refinancing through a new program run through the FHA,” the Obama administration said in a fact sheet released this week. “For responsible borrowers, there will be no more barriers and no more excuses.” The program would require that borrowers ...

The Department of Justice announced last week that it will increase the number of attorneys, analysts, agents and investigators looking into unlawful activities regarding mortgage-backed securities. The emphasis on MBS was directed by President Obama and is part of a new working group involving the DOJ, federal regulators and a number of state attorneys general. The DOJ, Department of Housing and Urban Development, Securities and Exchange Commission and state attorneys general led by New York AG Eric Schneiderman formed the Residential Mortgage-Backed Securities Working Group under the existing Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force ...

A settlement involving major servicers and state attorneys general could be close, as state AGs have until Feb. 6 to agree to a potential $25 billion settlement. Negotiations on the settlement have dragged on for 15 months and were previously slated to end Feb. 3. Ally Financial, Bank of America, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo would reportedly be included in the settlement. Some $17 billion in penalties paid by the banks would go toward principal reductions, $5 billion would go toward a reserve account that would ... [Includes three briefs]

The mortgage industry is skeptical about President Obama’s proposal for low-cost, non-agency loan refinancing program, administered by the FHA for current, underwater borrowers. Some industry participants called the plan nothing but smoke and mirrors that would likely create unrealistic expectations. But deceptive or not, the proposal first announced by the president in his State of the Union address promises to be different from the earlier, huge unsuccessful FHA experiments in foreclosure prevention – Hope for Homeowners and FHA Short Refinance programs. The proposed refi plan is a combination of ...

The National Association of Realtors recently asked the Department of Housing and Urban Development to allow investors to participate in the FHA’s property rehabilitation program. The FHA’s 203(k) Rehabilitation Mortgage Insurance Program allows homebuyers to take out a mortgage to purchase a house, including the cost of its rehabilitation. The program also allows the current owners to finance the rehabilitation of their own homes. Currently, investors and cooperative units are barred from using the 203(k) programs. Individual condominium units may be insured if ...

Beginning this month, Ginnie Mae will start assigning alphanumeric IDs for mortgage-backed securities pools because it may soon run out of available pool numbers. In a recent alert to issuers, Ginnie Mae said alphanumeric pool numbers will be assigned first to fixed-rate types. However, issuers must make sure they have used up all their assigned pool numbers before asking for the new letter/number codes. Ginnie Mae advised issuers in 2009 to have their systems ready to accept alphanumeric IDs by March 2010. Meanwhile, MountainView Servicing Group has announced its offering of ...

MBS and ABS markets in the U.S. are increasingly being shaped by global forces, from the impact of the European debt crisis to the worldwide adoption of new international regulatory standards and the surge in Euro securitizations that’s taking up some of the slack from the depressed U.S. non-agency MBS sector. There was an unmistakable international flavor to the ASF 2012 conference sponsored by the American Securitization Forum in Las Vegas this week. A significant number of the more than 5,000 attendees – an ASF record – came from outside the U.S., and numerous panels were devoted to global issues...

Government regulators continue to wrestle with the controversial risk-retention rule mandated by the Dodd-Frank Act that is widely seen as one key to the prospects for reviving the non-agency MBS market. Officials from one of the agencies involved in the rulemaking told attendees at this week’s annual meeting of the American Securitization Forum that regulators are still studying the landslide of comment letters that came in response to a proposed rule published in April 2011. The extended comment period closed in August. “It is in the nature of the rulemaking process that an advanced notice of proposed...