Mortgage lenders delivered a hefty $303.9 billion in single-family home loans to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac securitization programs during the first quarter of 2012, the biggest flow of new business to the government-sponsored enterprises in over a year, according to a new analysis and ranking by Inside Mortgage Finance. During the first three months of 2012, GSE single-family securitization jumped 16.2 percent from the fourth quarter. It marked the fourth straight quarterly increase in production of Fannie and Freddie mortgage-backed securities after the market troughed...(Includes three data charts)

The Securities and Exchange Commission and Wells Fargo are in a dispute regarding due diligence reports relating to almost $60.0 billion in non-agency mortgage-backed securities issued by Wells between September 2006 and early 2008. The SEC last week filed a subpoena enforcement action against Wells for failure to produce documents. The bank disputes the SEC’s account. The SEC said it has been seeking the documents since September. The regulator claimed that Wells agreed to produce the documents but has failed to do so. The SEC said its action relates to its investigation into whether Wells made material misrepresentations or omitted material facts on certain non-agency MBS issued by the bank ...

Ginnie Mae will question certain mortgage-backed securities issuers about reporting inconsistencies in pool data submissions over the last couple of months and try to resolve those issues to avoid delay in MBS pool processing. In an audio conference with issuers last week, Ginnie Mae officials said agency staff discovered the flawed data submissions while poring over several months’ worth of pool data submitted by issuers. While most of the information fell within theVargas said the discrepancies were attributed to a small group of issuers, who will be contacted soon to work on corrections before Ginnie Mae puts stronger edits up front. She said the agency wants to ...

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac buyback demands on Countrywide mortgages were more than double the amount sought on any other lender, but the key reason is that Countrywide securitized a lot more loans than anyone else from 2006 through 2008. A new Inside Mortgage Finance analysis of representation and warranties disclosures made by the two government-sponsored enterprises shows that some $16.22 billion of Countrywide mortgages were subject to buyback demands, both before and after the company was acquired by Bank of America in 2008. In a distant second place was Wells Fargo...(Includes one data chart)

The long-anticipated settlement among mortgage servicers, state attorneys general and federal agencies will be a positive for the housing market but have a modest impact on non-agency MBS, according to Moody’s Investors Service. The deal provides $10 billion for principal reduction loan modifications, and coupled with an expansion of the Home Affordable Modification Program, should help up to 1 million homeowners avoid foreclosure, Moody’s said. That may be a relatively small number compared to the 14.6 million households that are underwater, but it will help curb the flow of foreclosed...

With prices relatively low, vintage non-agency mortgage-backed securities have been a hot item in recent weeks. Some analysts suggest that the buying boom has already peaked and the collateral is overpriced again, though a significant amount of non-agency MBS is still available for sale. “The non-agency market has rebounded in 2012 after a poor second half of 2011,” according to analysts at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. The Federal Reserve’s two sales in as many months of Maiden Lane assets are as good an indicator as any that investor demand for non-agency MBS is strong ...

Both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac retained sizeable shares of mortgage securities with a not insignificant bump during the fourth quarter of 2011, according to a new Inside The GSEs analysis.The GSEs issued a combined $261.6 billion in MBS in the fourth quarter, a 13.0 percent increase from the third quarter.Fannie and Freddie dropped to $852.8 billion in MBS issued for the year, an 11.1 percent decrease in MBS issuance during the January to December period. The GSEs’ issuance represented 72.1 percent of total MBS produced during 2011.Between the two companies, Fannie and Freddie registered an ample 77.1 percent share of new MBS issued during the quarter that ended Dec. 31, 2011, up from the 69.1 percent the two companies held during the third quarter and surpassing the 74.8 percent share both GSEs held during the first quarter.

Moody’s Investor Services ranked as the most active rating service in the non-mortgage ABS market last year, but finished 2011, as the least involved in non-agency MBS activity, according to a new Inside MBS & ABS ranking and analysis. Moody’s rated a total of $89.3 billion of non-mortgage ABS last year, or 70.4 percent of total issuance. That was up from a 53.7 percent share in 2010, when Moody’s rated some $58.9 billion and finished second to Standard & Poor’s. Moody’s strengths in 2011 were in the credit card, vehicle finance and business loan sectors, capturing over 70.0 percent of each of those...

Federal and state enforcement agencies late last week launched a broad new initiative to investigate and develop litigation on fraud and misconduct in the non-agency MBS market, issuing civil subpoenas to 11 financial companies. The RMBS Working Group is being co-chaired by five officials: two assistant attorneys general in the Justice Department, the head of enforcement at the Securities and Exchange Commission and state attorneys general from New York and Colorado. Some 55 DOJ officials are participating, including 15 attorneys and 10 Federal Bureau of Investigation agents, with 30 more attorneys...

MBS and ABS markets in the U.S. are increasingly being shaped by global forces, from the impact of the European debt crisis to the worldwide adoption of new international regulatory standards and the surge in Euro securitizations that’s taking up some of the slack from the depressed U.S. non-agency MBS sector. There was an unmistakable international flavor to the ASF 2012 conference sponsored by the American Securitization Forum in Las Vegas this week. A significant number of the more than 5,000 attendees – an ASF record – came from outside the U.S., and numerous panels were devoted to global issues...