Standard & Poor’s rated more non-agency MBS, by dollar volume, than any of its peers during the first nine months of 2013, according to a new Inside MBS & ABS analysis and ranking. S&P rated $11.65 billion of non-agency MBS issued through the end of September. Although that was more than any of the other four rating services, it represented just 43.4 percent of total issuance in a market that is significantly more fragmented than it was before the financial crisis. Back in 2006, for example, S&P rated...[Includes two data charts]

Ginnie Mae remains a very good profit center for MBS issuers and investors, making government-backed lending appealing and beneficial to consumers, according to securitization experts. Government loans offer great value to lenders because they cover broader borrower eligibility than conventional loan products and lenders can execute more efficiently, said panelists at the Mortgage Bankers Association’s annual conference this week. The discussion focused on government loan programs – FHA, VA and Rural Housing Service – and on execution options for the loans and their mortgage servicing rights (MSRs). CMG Financial has found...

Citigroup Global Markets Realty is preparing to issue a non-agency jumbo mortgage-backed security next week, according to a preliminary term sheet provided to Inside Nonconforming Markets. The issuance would come just two weeks after Shellpoint Partners scrapped a planned jumbo MBS because of tepid investor demand. Blackstone is also offering the first securitization backed by rental proceeds from real estate owned properties and Freddie Mac is preparing its second non-agency risk-sharing transaction ...

JPMorgan Chase’s settlement with the Federal Housing Finance Agency regarding representation and warranty claims on non-agency mortgage-backed securities could prompt large settlements by other banks, according to industry analysts. Chase agreed last week to pay $4.0 billion to settle claims on $33.8 billion of non-agency MBS purchased by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The securities were issued between 2004 and 2007 by Chase, Bear Stearns and Washington Mutual. The settlement sets a “relatively high bar” for ...

FY 2013 Actuarial Report to Congress on the State of the MMIF Delayed. Release of the FY 2013 actuarial audit of the FHA Mutual Mortgage Insurance Fund will be delayed because of the recent government shutdown, according to a government source. No other details were provided. The FHA recently notified Congress that it would seek a mandatory appropriation of approximately $1.7 billion to bolster its capital reserves for expected future losses. FHA officials said the draw does not suggest anything dire but is simply a matter of ...

Shellpoint Partners this week pulled the plug on its second jumbo non-agency MBS issuance of the year and will instead sell the mortgages as whole loans. Shellpoint Asset Funding Trust 2013-2 was initially offered as a $308.64 million deal in September. The company then reduced the offering to a $250.85 million securitization with a number of tweaks aimed at attracting investors. In the end, the company couldn’t structure...

The securitization of income-property mortgages in 2013 remains on track to be the best year since the financial market meltdown, but new issuance dropped sharply during the third quarter. A total of $33.16 billion of commercial MBS – including agency MBS backed by multifamily mortgages – were issued during the third quarter of 2013, a new Inside MBS & ABS analysis reveals. That was down 24.5 percent from the second quarter, but it brought year-to-date issuance to $123.89 billion, just shy of the total securitized in all of 2012. Commercial mortgage securitization through the first nine months of 2013 was...[Includes one data chart]

Building on both GSEs’ recent risk-sharing transactions to achieve the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s $30 billion 2013 Conservatorship Scorecard target, the head of the FHFA said this week to expect more of the same as well as additional risk-sharing innovations. In a speech at the Bipartisan Policy Center, FHFA Acting Director Edward DeMarco said that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, in concert with the Finance Agency, are “planning for the scope and depth of risk-sharing transactions to continue and expand.”

MBS issuers and investors endorse many aspects of the revised qualified residential mortgage requirements recently proposed by federal regulators, but there are concerns about requirements for other asset classes included in the new risk-retention proposal. Issuers of non-agency MBS, ABS and commercial MBS backed by collateral that doesn’t meet certain qualifying requirements will have to retain risk on at least 5 percent of the deal, as required by the Dodd-Frank Act. Major industry groups have asked the regulators for more time to weigh the new proposed rule, which set a public comment period that ends Oct. 30. Richard Johns, executive director of the Structured Finance Industry Group, offered...

Communication among investors in non-agency MBS as well as between issuers and investors has been inadequate, according to industry participants. Trustees and others are working to address the issues, both with new jumbo MBS and vintage non-agency MBS. Investors cite problems with data availability, consistency, timing and quality. Paul Burke, head of North American agency and trust sales at Citibank, said the communication system currently used for non-agency MBS leaves something to be desired. Communication regarding potential votes for action on non-agency MBS, due to a perceived breach of representations and warranties, for example, is generally funneled...