The government’s top securities industry regulator rejected some of the pushback against the huge volume of new regulations for the MBS and ABS market, while reporting that officials are working to address some major concerns as they finalize the rules. “Efforts to implement the reforms that would bring investors back to the markets are being met with strong and what I believe to be short-sighted resistance,” said Mary Schapiro, chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, during a speech at this week’s American Securitization Forum annual meeting. “In the aftermath of the crisis, would-be investors are waiting for needed reforms in...

Real estate investment trust Walter Investment Management Corp. announced late last week its closing of a $102 million private placement of non-agency MBS. The purpose of the transaction is to help pay for Green Tree Credit Solutions, which Walter Investment acquired in March for $1.065 billion. Green Tree carries a $37 billion servicing portfolio, mostly for other investors, according to Inside Nonconforming Markets, an affiliated newsletter. The notes were issued by WIMC 2011-1, which is a recently-formed statutory trust sponsored by Walter Investment. “As we near our anticipated early third quarter completion of...

Although the dollar volume of MBS and ABS deals rated by Standard & Poor’s in the first quarter was down from the same period in 2010, the company ranked as the top rating service in both markets, according to a new analysis by Inside MBS & ABS. S&P rated $5.80 billion of non-agency MBS during the first quarter, down 61 percent from its volume in early 2010. But that amounted to 66 percent of total issuance in the market – more than any of its competitors. Overall non-agency MBS issuance was down 50 percent from year-ago levels. Moody’s Investor Services ranked second with $4.5 billion in rated MBS, just over half of the market in... [Includes one data chart]

It was a bad litigation week for MBS issuers after a federal regulator and a federal judge filed lawsuits and certified a class action, respectively, on behalf of institutional investors that lost billions of dollars when the collateral underlying the securities dropped in value. On June 20, the National Credit Union Administration, acting as liquidating agent for five failed credit unions, filed lawsuits against JPMorgan Securities and RBS Securities for allegedly misrepresenting the risks of MBS investments and systematically disregarding underwriting guidelines. The NCUA is seeking to recover more than $800 billion in MBS losses that led to...

Mortgage servicers are being squeezed by inadequate compensation, intense scrutiny and a surge of new regulation, but Fannie Mae and the Treasury Department say they are trying to even the score. Servicers no longer see their job as financially rewarding and have been leaving their positions accordingly, claimed Diane Pendley, managing director of Fitch Ratings, during a panel session at this week’s annual meeting of the American Securitization Forum. “We’re seeing them fighting – they’re coming out swinging, just really to get some balance,” echoed Gwen Muse-Evans, vice president and chief risk officer at Fannie Mae. “There’s definitely a perception that...

A bill that would create a legislative framework for a covered bond market in the U.S., as well as a potential competitor for the Federal Home Loan Bank system, cleared committee this week following some fine-tuning by its sponsors and is headed to the full House for consideration.The House Financial Services Committee voted 44-7 in favor of H.R. 940, the U.S. Covered Bond Act of 2011.

Expect the $11 trillion residential mortgage market to continue struggling to find its footing as market watchers anxiously await for an improved economy and employment picture to revive the sector from recession-induced stupor, according to the Aite Group. Although the residential mortgage market will “eventually” come back as the economy improves, the ease and speed with which the mortgage-backed securities market recovers is highly dependent on the structural and regulatory forces governing MBS securitization, particularly as it relates to ...

Four more executives have been handed down jail terms for their role in a $2.9 billion fraud scheme that defrauded Freddie Mac, among others, and contributed to the failures of Colonial Bank and Taylor, Bean & Whitaker.

There is a huge disconnect between some members of Congress and the reality of the private market, that broad investor appetite for non-agency mortgage-backed securities is unlikely to rebound anytime soon, according to panelists at the American Securitization Forum annual conference. “Once you figure out how to get the government sector out of the market, [the belief is that] the private sector will step in and pick up all of that slack, and therefore they will do...

The proposed rule on risk retention for MBS and ABS needs to be re-drafted and published again for another round of public comment because many definitions are unclear and, as it stands now, the proposal is a viable threat to the securitization market, according to industry groups. Although federal regulators recently extended the comment period on the proposal, both the Se-curities Industry and Financial Markets Association and the American Securitization Forum submitted detailed critiques of the plan late last week. “SIFMA has described...