With balances on non-agency MBS issued before the financial crisis falling to levels where clean-up calls can be initiated, clean-up call activity is rising with prospects for further growth. Rights to clean-up calls on non-agency MBS can typically be exercised when the outstanding balance of the MBS is lower than 10.0 percent of the original balance. The owner of the call rights (typically the master servicer) can purchase loans from the pool at par plus expenses and make a profit by selling or re-securitizing performing loans at a premium and retaining distressed loans to modify or liquidate. According to Bank of America Merrill Lynch, about 37 deals have been called this year totaling about $800 million in unpaid principal balance ...

A New York State Supreme Court judge recently signed off on JPMorgan’s proposed $4.5 billion settlement with a revised list of MBS trusts, while three other Wall Street banks lost in separate bids to have MBS claims against them dismissed. On Aug. 12, Justice Marcy Friedman of the New York State Supreme Court approved JPMorgan’s representation-and-warranties settlement offer for 319 MBS trusts. She concluded that the trustees exercised their discretionary power reasonably and in good faith in accepting the settlement. JPMorgan and a group of 20 large institutional investors that hold approximately 32.5 percent of the securities issued by the MBS trusts negotiated the settlement. Among these prominent investors were Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Federal Home Loan Bank ...

While private mortgage insurance on new non-agency mortgage originations has been minimal since 2008, some industry participants project that private MI will play a role in the non-agency mortgage-backed security market going forward. “Mortgage insurers may get more involved with the private-label market, and this may be another source of third-party oversight,” Morningstar Credit Ratings said in a recent report. “While it is too early to predict the investors’ response to ...

A ruling late last year by a state appeals court in New York threatens to upend the practice of providing “gap” or “bridge down” representations and warranties on residential MBS, according to a brief submitted on behalf of the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association. SIFMA asked the New York State Court of Appeals to reverse the lower court’s ruling in Bank of New York Mellon v. WMC Mortgage. Lawyers at the law firm of Stroock & Stroock & Lavan submitted an amicus brief to the N.Y. State Court of Appeals on behalf of SIFMA regarding the case. “The court’s resolution of this issue could have...

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac continued to whittle away at their retained mortgage portfolios during the second quarter, keeping up a focus on shedding less-liquid assets. The two government-sponsored enterprises held a combined $637.0 billion of mortgage loans and mortgage securities at June 30, down 17.6 percent from a year ago. Under the current terms of their conservatorship, Fannie and Freddie are required to reduce their mortgage portfolios by at least 15.0 percent a year. By the beginning of 2018, each GSE portfolio is expected...[Includes one data table]

Fannie Mae’s new securitization program for modified single-family mortgages could generate as much as $24 billion in issuance, according to an analysis by Bank of America Merrill Lynch. The program will create “an asset class meriting investor focus,” BAML noted. Fannie recently released...

Two Harbors Investment and other nonbank conduits exited the jumbo market just before pricing for new jumbo mortgage-backed securities improved, according to industry participants. “The difference between a bulk sale execution and a Sequoia execution right now is only an eighth of a point,” Marty Hughes, CEO of Redwood Trust, said this week during the real estate investment trust’s earnings call. “That’s the tightest it’s probably been in a year and a half.” Christopher Abate, Redwood’s ...

S&P Global Ratings upgraded servicer ratings for Ocwen Loan Servicing to average from below average this week. Ocwen’s stock price increased significantly after the upgrade because of ratings clauses in Ocwen’s subservicing agreements with New Residential Investment. S&P downgraded Ocwen’s servicer ratings in June 2015 and if the ratings weren’t raised by April 2017, New Residential could transfer the subservicing to a different company. As of the end of ...

MBS investments by most of the nation’s publicly traded mortgage real estate investment trusts continue to be in a holding pattern these days as they figure out what to do in an environment of declining interest rates and accelerating prepayment speeds. Market leader Annaly Capital Management held $64.9 billion of agency MBS at midyear, down ever so slightly from the prior quarter. Compared to June 2015, Annaly’s MBS portfolio was off 4.1 percent. American Capital Agency Corp., Annaly’s closest competitor in terms of REIT MBS investing, saw...

Freddie Mac will publish a new set of disclosures to help the market track the exchange of its legacy MBS with a 45-day payment delay to a 55-day cycle under the new Single Security, according to a new update from the government-sponsored enterprise. A key disclosure involves the creation of “mirror securities” that help investors track how much of an existing MBS has been exchanged for the new securities. Mirror securities will be created for Freddie’s current participation certificates as well as second-level Giants that are comprised of PCs. Before new Single Securities are created, Freddie will create...