Recent disappointing job creation numbers and continued concern about slowing economic activity around the globe have convinced an increasing number of Wall Street analysts, participants and observers that the Federal Reserve’s Open Market Committee will not raise interest rates at its next meeting, scheduled for later this month. Further, more market professionals don’t predict an uptick in rates until sometime in 2016. And a few are even speculating a liftoff won’t come until the year after that. According to Peter Schiff, CEO and chief global strategist for investment firm Euro Pacific Capital, “the downright dismal September jobs report that was released last Friday may prove...

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac saw a modest decline in the flow of home loans into their mortgage-backed securities programs during the third quarter of 2015, according to a new analysis and ranking by Inside Mortgage Finance. The two government-sponsored enterprises issued a total of $223.47 billion of single-family MBS during the third quarter, a 3.8 percent decline from the previous quarter. Freddie had a slightly larger downturn (4.1 percent) than Fannie (3.6 percent). Although overall MBS volume was down, lenders delivered...[Includes three data tables]

Over the past few months, the chief executive officers at two publicly traded mortgage firms and a private cooperative have departed, creating uncertainty in the market while underscoring what might seem obvious to some: It’s not easy running a mortgage business these days. CEOs heading for the exits – either on their own accord or via a management edict – include Jim Cutillo of Stonegate, Jeff McGuiness at the Lenders One Cooperative, and most recently Mark O’Brien, who headed nonbank lender/servicer Walter Investment Management Corp. And rounding out the “departure club” is...

An acquirer of mortgage servicing rights has agreed to pay $1.5 million and to stop committing further violations to resolve charges of misstating net income and misleading the Securities and Exchange Commission about its relationship with servicer Ocwen Financial Group. The settlement agreement between the SEC and Home Loan Servicing Solutions is the latest twist in the long-running federal and state investigations of Ocwen and its relationships with affiliated companies, which have included HLSS, Altisource Residential, Altisource Portfolio Solutions and Altisource Asset Management. The common thread in all five companies is...

While there may be some dispute in the industry regarding front-end versus back-end transactions, it’s clear that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac credit-risk transfer programs are here to stay and will only intensify, according to Bob Ryan, the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s acting deputy director of the division of conservatorship. “The FHFA and the enterprises are committed to credit risk on a routine basis. It is not a pilot; it’s a routine part of our ongoing activity,” he said during a Bipartisan Policy Center seminar on mortgage finance reform. Ryan re-emphasized...

New issuance of residential MBS and non-mortgage ABS fell slightly during the third quarter of 2015, but the market remained well ahead of the pace set last year. A new Inside MBS & ABS analysis shows a total of $396.99 billion of MBS and ABS were issued during the third quarter, down 6.1 percent from the previous quarter. That total does not include commercial MBS or multifamily securities issued by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae. On a year-to-date basis, total MBS and ABS issuance was...[Includes two data tables]

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac continued to tap investor interest in credit-risk transfer transactions over the last week or so, with each company announcing another deal involving more support from various elements in the insurance and reinsurance sectors. Last week, Fannie announced it has completed its latest Credit Insurance Risk Transfer transaction, which shifts credit risk on a pool of loans to a panel of reinsurers. In CIRT-2015-3 which became effective Aug. 1, 2015, Fannie retained...[Includes one data table]

The much-anticipated $150 million nonprime MBS deal from Angel Oak Mortgage Solutions appears to have hit a brick wall with concerns arising over representations and warranties on the transaction, according to one high-level source who claims to have knowledge of the deal. Both Angel Oak and the underwriter, Nomura Securities, this week once again did not return several media inquiries on what might have gone wrong. Originally, the bond – a privately issued transaction – was slated for sale to investors sometime in September but never came off. The source, who spoke to Inside MBS & ABS under the condition his name not be used, said...

A memo issued by the Internal Revenue Service this year regarding the tax treatment for certain real estate mortgage investment conduits has been a boon for investors in nonperforming loans, according to William Cejudo, a partner at the law firm of Clifford Chance. At the recent ABS East conference sponsored by Information Management Network in Miami, Cejudo provided some background on Technical Advice Memorandum 2015-17007, which was issued by the IRS in May. The memo covered a life insurance company’s formation of a REMIC that held impaired non-agency MBS. “It’s...

Issuance of ABS backed by leases on small/mid-ticket equipment has rebounded since the financial crisis to levels last seen 15 years ago. However, industry participants suggest that loan-level disclosure requirements and mandatory risk-retention could limit activity in the sector going forward. At the recent ABS East conference produced by Information Management Network in Miami, Du Trieu, a senior director at Fitch Ratings, said issuance is increasing due to the improving economy and investor demand. “The collateral is business critical and income producing,” he added. Nearly $12.0 billion in small/mid-ticket ABS was issued...