Banks and thrifts held a combined $1.535 trillion of residential MBS at the end of September, a modest 0.6 percent increase from the previous quarter, according to a new Inside MBS & ABS analysis of bank call reports. Bank MBS holdings had spiked higher in the first quarter of this year, only to fall back in the following period. Compared to a year ago, the industry’s aggregate MBS portfolio was up 1.4 percent. Bank and thrift MBS holdings first crossed...[Includes two data charts]

The benchmark non-agency mortgage-backed security that the Treasury Department is organizing will vary significantly from recent non-agency MBS. Michael Stegman, counselor on housing finance policy to the Treasury, revealed new details about the planned transaction last week in New York City at the Private-Label RMBS Symposium hosted by the Structured Finance Industry Group and Information Management Network. Stegman said the benchmark non-agency MBS will ideally be ...

As leading figures in the secondary market continue their efforts to reboot the non-agency mortgage-backed securities sector, attracting private capital remains the single most critical factor in the equation. However, during a recent industry conference, institutional investors made it clear that in order for them to return, the market’s infrastructure will need to provide stronger protections, enhanced transparency and an improved ability to respond when a deal starts to go sour ...

The latest “green papers” in the Structured Finance Industry Group’s RMBS 3.0 standards-setting project focus on due-diligence disclosures for investors in non-agency mortgage-backed securities. The SFIG noted that potential investors in non-agency MBS are particularly interested in findings conducted by third-party due-diligence firms before a security is issued. The SFIG proposed a model form that would disclose an “extract” of due-diligence findings to investors ...

Ginnie Mae is seeking comment on several proposed data collections, including those that would strengthen the agency’s ability to monitor participants in its mortgage-backed securities programs. Due to its growing concern over the influx of non-depository issuers into the single-family MBS program, Ginnie has proposed to collect more loan-level data to supplement the information already being collected and reported on a monthly basis. The proposed data collection consists of bankruptcy-related information (action type, case identifier, chapter type, bar date) as well as borrower-related information (borrower bankruptcy indicator, classification type, total mortgaged properties, counseling initiated indicator and credit score date). Other proposed new data include document custodian ID, type of insurance claim coverage, investor unpaid principal balance (UPB), adjustment to ...

A top Obama administration official told secondary market participants this week that the concept of a “benchmark transaction” could help the non-agency RMBS market overcome its feeble condition. Used in conjunction with the industry’s RMBS 3.0 project, such a mechanism could help clear away the rubble from the market’s collapse and attract big institutional investors that have largely refused to come back in from the sidelines. “The now widely recognized structural deficiencies in the legacy private-label securitizations that came to light during the financial crisis truly shattered the trust of market participants, with the result that almost seven years now after the collapse, this market is barely clinging to life,” said Michael Stegman, special counselor to the U.S Treasury for housing finance policy. “Concrete reforms are clearly needed to rebuild confidence and establish a resilient, sustainable architecture to bring back significant private capital to the U.S. housing market.” Stegman delivered...

Although residential lenders are coming off a better than expected production quarter – and enjoying a decent last three months of the year – analysts and investors seem undecided on whether there’s opportunity in the market or it’s time to stay on the sidelines. Several high profile publicly traded shops that are considered “high touch” specialists – Nationstar Mortgage, Ocwen Financial and Walter Investment – continue to trade at steep discounts to their 52-week highs with all three facing possible class-action lawsuits from angry investors who’ve seen billions of dollars in stock equity evaporate over the past year. And then there’s...

For several months now, Arvest Bank has been working on a roughly $28 billion servicing sale with a subservicing component extended to the eventual buyer, but so far a deal has been allusive, according to investment banking sources familiar with the situation. “From what I can tell, the package is still out there,” said one source who was briefed on the situation. Arvest Bank services...

Servicers are increasingly executing their clean-up call options on vintage non-agency MBS, paying off investors at par and realizing profits by liquidating real estate owned properties. This year has been the most active year for clean-up calls on non-agency MBS since 2007, according to analysts at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. And that’s before the largest servicer of subprime MBS has taken any significant action on clean-up calls. In August, Ocwen Financial announced...

Professional money managers see the U.S. economy on a sounder footing over the next 12 months, with expectations of little or no gain among mortgage-related assets over the next year, according to a new Fitch Ratings survey of fixed-income investors. Opinions about the credit conditions of mortgage investment vehicles in the near term mostly focused on modest, rather than severe, deterioration. In this segment, investors were mostly optimistic about prime mortgage-backed bonds. Overall, the survey found...