The Federal Reserve lost its top ranking among residential MBS investors during the fourth quarter of 2018, giving way to the commercial banking sector, according to a new In-side MBS & ABS analysis. [Includes three data charts.]

GSE Reform Hearings, Already?; The UMBS is Coming; NAR Pushes ‘Utility’ Plan…

The Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association last week voted “by a substantial majority” to approve the uniform MBS for delivery into the crucial to-be-announced market. The announcement followed months of uncertainty about whether the influential trade group would endorse the single security.

With more retailers announcing store closures and bankruptcies, commercial MBS is expected to continue experiencing turbulence this year.

The difference between the weighted average coupon on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac MBS soared to an average of 10 basis points in January, with Fannie pools showing consistently higher spreads. According to a report by Wells Fargo Securities last month, the wide gap may be because Fannie is offering sweeter guarantee-fee buy-up/buy-down deals to some issuers.

Ginnie Mae’s new rule requiring servicers to maintain a minimum servicing spread of 25 basis points will have very little impact on medium and large servicers, according to analysts with Keefe, Bruyette & Woods.

Earlier this month, the Financial Stability Oversight Council proposed rule changes that would make it more difficult to designate non-banks as systemically important financial institutions. It’s unclear what the new guidance would mean for the nation’s largest nonbanks, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Securitization deals backed by mortgage servicing rights are on the rise as nonbank servicers tap the relatively new funding option.

Buyouts from Ginnie Mae MBS have replaced vintage subprime mortgages as a major source of nonperforming loans, according to industry participants.

The average daily trading volume in agency MBS totaled $229.9 billion in February, an 8.5% sequential decline from the previous month, according to figures compiled by the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association.