The new year has arrived and along with it a bond market rally that’s causing interest rates to fall, sparking hope that first-quarter mortgage originations and securitizations might turn out to be better than anticipated.

A new regulation set by the European Union for MBS and ABS issuance took effect at the start of the year. Though the rules don’t directly apply to U.S.-based deals, issuers here might have to comply if they want European investors to buy into their bonds.

Participants in the MBS and ABS market took major steps toward addressing the end of the London Inter-bank Offered Rate. This week, the Structured Finance Industry Group released a draft of best practices for transitioning new issuance away from LIBOR, echoing similar moves by the Al-ternative Reference Rates Committee administered by the Federal Reserve and the New York Fed.

The supply of single-family non-agency MBS continued to decline in the third quarter of 2018, but the sector may be nearing a turnaround point, according to a new Inside MBS & ABS analysis of outstanding mortgage securities. [Includes two data charts.]

Deutsche Bank, asset managers and investors have agreed to settle their long-running dispute over the bank’s alleged failure to fulfill its obligations as trustee to more than 500 trusts backed by legacy residential MBS valued at more than $570 billion.

Issuance volume and lending practices in the prime non-agency mortgage-backed security market in 2019 will be linked in several ways to the government-sponsored enterprises, according to industry analysts. Volume projections for prime non-agency MBS depend on pricing differences between non-agency execution and delivery of loans to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Non-agency lenders are also expected to increasingly use tools developed by the GSEs. “We expect robust issuance from ...

As profit margins tighten in a softening origination market, more lenders are pondering a move into correspondent purchases, especially if the company is already table-funding mortgages in the wholesale channel.

Commercial banks and savings institutions added to their holdings of certain categories of non-mortgage ABS during the third quarter, but the industry’s total ABS portfolio was down slightly, according to a new Inside MBS & ABS analysis of call-report data. [Includes three data charts.]

The handling of a lawsuit relating to repurchase activity on pre-crisis non-agency MBS could have a wide-ranging impact on the industry, according to the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association.

The strong demand for non-agency mortgage-backed securities this year looks to be tied to a number of factors, according to industry analysts. ICE Data Services, a firm that tracks non-agency MBS prices, noted that the sector has been helped by large settlements involving legacy non-agency MBS. And investors are more comfortable with the legal liability associated with non-qualified mortgages, prompting significant securitization of the loans. Issuers are also experimenting with ...