Returns on agency MBS are “uninspiring,” according to Thomas Siering, president and CEO of Two Harbors Investment, which has worked to diversify its assets, including putting an emphasis on jumbo conduit activities and commercial MBS. “We have a diversified business model and our operating platform obviates the need to jack up leverage to generate some return in the agency space because we think we can get attractive returns in ...

MBS investors – so far – are losing little sleep over the effect plunging oil prices might have on the market, even though delinquency rates in Texas are beginning to creep up. In some quarters of the industry, the fear is that a major (and further) correction in the energy sector will lead to massive layoffs in states dependent on oil, and that mortgagors, in time, will go delinquent on their loans. In turn, MBS and servicing rights that have a heavy concentration in ...

While Wall Street professionals spent the run-up to this week’s meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee wondering whether the Fed would lose its “patience” regarding a future increase in interest rates, the FOMC continued its present course on MBS investment. “The committee is maintaining its existing policy of reinvesting principal payments from its holdings of agency debt and agency MBS in agency MBS and of rolling over maturing ...

In fiscal 2014, Ginnie Mae approved roughly 43 companies as MBS issuer-servicers, a 44 percent reduction from the year prior, according to an analysis of agency data by Inside MBS & ABS. So far, in fiscal 2015, which began October 1 of last year, roughly 25 firms have been granted issuance approval. Moreover, the companies being given the greenlight to participate in the program are overwhelmingly nonbanks. The fall-off in both applications and ...

Despite the Federal Housing Finance Authority’s proposed rule that would block real estate investment trusts from joining a Federal Home Loan Bank through captive insurance units, the Indianapolis FHLBank approved a new REIT member. An insurance subsidiary of Five Oaks Investment Corp. was admitted on Feb. 24, according to the REIT’s 2014 annual report released this week. A handful of other REITs, including Two Harbors, Redwood Trust and Invesco ...

Signing up participants has been somewhat slower than Ginnie Mae expected since the launch of its Issuer Operation Performance Profile tool, or Issuer Performance Scorecard, in February. In a recent outreach call to issuers, Ginnie officials said they have signed up 70 issuers but still need another two-thirds of issuers to participate in the performance scoring process. They cited no reason for the slow progress of issuer registration. The IOPP tool will ...

WinWater Home Mortgage and Two Harbors Investment are preparing to issue separate jumbo mortgage-backed securities, according to presale reports. WinWater’s deal is set to include some non-qualified mortgages while Two Harbors’ jumbo MBS sticks with the type of mortgages that have dominated jumbo MBS issued in recent years. The $287.74 million WinWater Mortgage Loan Trust 2015-3 is set to receive AAA ratings with credit enhancement of ...

A moratorium of real estate investment trusts gaining membership in the Federal Home Loan Bank system ended recently when the captive insurer of Five Oaks Investment was approved as a member of the FHLBank of Indianapolis. The REIT revealed this week that Five Oaks Insurance gained FHLBank membership on Feb. 24. “FOI is currently negotiating agreements for advances with the FHLBank and, although no assurance can be given, FOI anticipates ...

The two main types of representation-and-warranty frameworks used in jumbo mortgage-backed securities can both effectively protect investors, according to Moody’s Investors Service. Each framework presents different risks, and industry participants suggest that other aspects of deals carry more importance for investors. Jumbo MBS issued in recent years have largely included either an open-ended rep-and-warrant framework or a prescriptive framework ...

The outstanding balance of non-agency mortgage-backed securities increased in February on a monthly basis, according to a Standard & Poor’s analysis of remittance data. The increase was a rare occurrence as non-agency MBS outstanding has regularly declined since 2009. Of the more than 20,000 jumbo mortgages Redwood Trust has acquired as part of its jumbo conduit activities since 2010, only 11 have gone 60-plus days delinquent ... [Includes five briefs]