The uniformity once seen across rating services in their assessments of specific tranches of residential MBS has become a lot less common in recent years. The trend prompted Fitch Ratings to raise concerns about “rating inflation,” as competitors have at times been more lenient in their assessments.
Another piece of the regulatory jigsaw puzzle fell into place this week for the complex effort to create a uniform MBS for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to issue in the to-be-announced market.
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac continued to report declining balances in their retained mortgage portfolios during the second quarter – with a few wrinkles. [Includes one chart.]
Ocwen Financial Corporation is no longer in danger of losing its Ginnie Mae issuer status after the agency earlier this month officially announced its concerns over the specialty servicer’s problems with state regulators are resolved. Ocwen, a publicly traded Florida corporation, disclosed in a new filing that, based on information it provided to Ginnie Mae regarding the resolution of state cease-and-desist orders issued by a coalition of state banking regulators, the agency considers the issue to be concluded. In April last year, 30 state mortgage regulators issued cease-and-desist orders to prevent Ocwen from servicing loans within their jurisdictions. The servicer was accused of substandard loan servicing that violated state and applicable federal laws The orders generally prohibited Ocwen from acquiring new mortgage servicing rights, originating or acquiring new mortgage loans for which Ocwen would be the ...
Michael Bright Clears First Hurdle to Becoming President of GNMA. The Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs this week voted to confirm Michael Bright as president of Ginnie Mae. Bright’s confirmation is broadly positive for housing, said Jaret Seiberg, financial services and housing policy analyst for Cowen Washington Research Group. Bright is a former staffer for Sen. Bob Corker, R-TN, and has a history of working well with Republicans and Democrats, said Seiberg. In addition, he has worked closely with Sen. Elizabeth Warren in cracking down on loan churning, he added. The Mortgage Bankers Association welcomed the news. “Mr. Bright would bring significant experience within the mortgage industry and on Capitol Hill to the role of Ginnie Mae president,” said Bill Kilmer, the group’s chief lobbyist. “He has demonstrated a commitment to bipartisan solutions regarding complex ...
Commercial banks and savings institutions added to their holdings of non-mortgage ABS during the second quarter but still play a relatively minor role in the market. [Includes two charts.]
Among the tranches of residential MBS issued this year that received ratings from multiple firms, nearly 40.0 percent of the bonds had so-called split ratings, with different assessments by different rating services.
The Federal Housing Finance Agency this week stopped Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac from financing corporate landlords that buy single-family rental properties – sometimes in bulk – declaring that SFR operators do not need the “liquidity provided by the enterprises.”
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