A proposal from the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority to establish margin requirements for the to-be-announced MBS market was met with strong opposition from industry participants. While FINRA made some concessions to the industry in the proposal issued in October, many MBS traders warned of dire consequences if the proposed margin requirements take effect. The proposal from FINRA included a number of provisions, such as a 2.0 percent “maintenance” margin ...

The second whole-loan securities risk-transfer transaction from Freddie Mac received a rating from Moody’s Investors Service. The rating service said the $634.64 million deal included a number of improvements compared with non-agency MBS, which have a similar structure. Much like non-agency MBS, the deal was backed by mortgages and included senior and subor-dinate tranches available for purchase by investors. The M1 tranche of FWLS 2015-SC02 ...

Mortgage real estate investments trusts might get more active in the credit risk transfer activity of government-sponsored enterprises Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac after U.S. Rep. Ed Royce, R-CA, this week seemed to secure a commitment from Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Mary Jo White to help facilitate such greater involvement. “What we’ve been trying to do … is to take a strong interest in housing finance reform and see how we can move forward ...

Moreover, during the quarter, the REIT joined the Federal Home Loan Bank of Atlanta.

After a seven-year hiatus, Silver Hill Funding this month re-entered the market for small-balance commercial mortgages, rolling out a menu catering to borrowers that are looking to buy multifamily properties, as well as office, retail, light industrial, self-storage and mixed use. Under its initial program, it will extend credit to both investors and owner-occupants ranging from $250,000 to $1 million as the nonbank attempts to serve a niche that it believes is ignored by ...

Last week, Wall Street groups and some Washington, DC, allies raised concerns that the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision’s Fundamental Review of the Trading Book (FRTB) proposed standard will have potentially negative effects on U.S. securitized products. The proposal could hamper the recovery of the non-agency MBS market, the resolution of government-sponsored enterprises Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and the full restoration of mortgage credit availability ...

The Federal Housing Finance Agency filed a motion last week to dismiss a lawsuit that was filed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac shareholders in Delaware this summer who argued that the Treasury sweep of the government-sponsored enterprises’ profits is illegal under state law. The complaint stated that with Fannie chartered under Delaware law and Freddie under Virginia’s jurisdiction, the preferred stock of a corporation cannot be given a cumulative dividend right equal to all the ...

The inspector general of the Department of Housing and Urban Development refused to sign off on Ginnie Mae’s fiscal 2015 financial statement and its restated financial statement for FY 2014 due to lingering concerns about the accuracy of both statements. The IG said it was unable to obtain sufficient evidence to express an audit opinion on the fairness of the $5.4 billion in non-pooled, defaulted mortgage loans still held by Ginnie Mae. The agency also continued to use improper ...

Interest rates are rising and that means more MSR packages are likely to hit the market.

The HECMs backing the bond are either in default, due and payable, in foreclosure or REO...