JPMorgan Chase and Redwood Trust remained the only two active issuers of prime non-agency mortgage-backed securities as of the end of the third quarter of 2016, according to a new ranking and analysis by Inside Nonconforming Markets. A total of $4.07 billion in prime non-agency MBS was issued during the third quarter of 2016, more than five times the volume issued in the previous quarter. However, through three quarters this year, prime MBS issuance ... [Includes one data chart]

The sample deal-agent agreement released by non-agency industry participants in September aims to provide a template for a third party that would protect investors in future non-agency mortgage-backed securities. Some industry participants warn that there are still more issues that need to be addressed, including a potential overlap in the duties for a deal agent and tasks traditionally handled by trustees and master servicers. At the recent ABS East conference produced by ...

The Structured Finance Industry Group is preparing to publish standards that aim to increase transparency for representations and warranties on new non-agency mortgage-backed securities, according to officials at the trade group. Eric Kaplan, a managing partner at Ranieri Strategies, said SFIG will release one or two “green papers” this year as part of the group’s RMBS 3.0 effort to revive issuance of non-agency MBS. He said the next green paper from SFIG will ... [Includes two briefs]

Fitch Ratings was the most active rating service in the sluggish non-agency MBS market through the first half of 2016, according to a new Inside MBS & ABS ranking. Standard & Poor’s was the top rating agency in the more active non-mortgage ABS market. Fitch rated just seven non-agency MBS issued during the first six months of the year, which totaled $4.74 billion in volume. While that equaled 30.9 percent of total non-agency MBS issuance for the period, many deals were private placements without ratings. Fitch’s share of rated issuance was 55.4 percent. DBRS ranked...[Includes two data tables]

Foreign investors, commercial banks and mutual funds all beefed up their holdings of agency MBS during the second quarter of 2016, according to a new Inside MBS & ABS analysis. The Federal Reserve remained the biggest investor in the agency MBS market with $1.744 trillion on its books at the end of June. That accounted for 29.7 percent of the $5.867 trillion of single-family agency MBS outstanding at that time, but it was down 0.5 percent from the end of March. The central bank’s MBS holdings vary slightly in the Fed’s weekly snapshots as pending transactions wait to clear, but its game plan is to hold its portfolio steady by reinvesting principal payments. The single-family agency MBS market grew...[Includes two data tables]

The effort by some non-agency MBS investors to create an entity to protect investors took a step forward as a sample deal-agent agreement was circulated late last week in advance of the ABS East conference in Miami. A deal agent would be tasked with protecting the interests of investors in non-agency MBS, including duties of care and loyalty. The leaders of the effort, James Callahan, a principal at Pentalpha Global and Alessandro Pagani, head of securitized assets at Loomis Sayles & Company, said the market should adopt the agreement as the template for new non-agency MBS. However, the sample agreement leaves...

The complex financing arrangements used by certain investors and a lack of clarity from federal regulators can make it difficult to determine the entity responsible for meeting risk-retention requirements in some MBS and ABS, according to Charles Sweet, senior counsel at the law firm of Morgan Lewis. The Dodd-Frank Act generally required the sponsor of a security to retain at least 5.0 percent of the risk from the security. Sweet said determining the sponsor of an MBS or ABS can be fairly straightforward when one company originates the assets, services the receivables and initiates securitization, as in the case of an ABS backed by automobile retail contracts from a captive finance company of a car manufacturer. However, where securitization roles are more dispersed, Sweet said...

JPMorgan Chase is set to end another lull in the issuance of jumbo mortgage-backed securities. The $395.40 million JPMorgan Mortgage Trust 2016-3 is scheduled to be issued next week, according to a presale report from Fitch Ratings. The most recently issued jumbo MBS priced in mid-August and was also from Chase. Only two firms with active conduits have issued jumbo MBS this year: Chase and Redwood Trust. Two Harbors Investment and WinWater Home Mortgage issued ...

The nonprime mortgage-backed security issued last week by Lone Star Funds priced at tighter spreads than the deal the company issued in June, indicating increased demand among investors. The $217.00 million COLT 2016-2 was also larger than the previous $161.40 million deal from Lone Star. According to Deutsche Bank Securities, spreads of A-1 tranche and A-2 tranche in COLT 2016-2 were respectively priced at 130 basis points and 175 bps, significantly tighter than ...

An investor-led group of participants in the non-agency mortgage-backed security market released a sample deal-agent agreement last week. The investors said the agreement can help reform non-agency MBS practices and increase issuance. Some investors have balked at buying new non-agency MBS until significant reforms are put in place. As early as July 2008, the American Securitization Forum started work on reforming the market and the Structured Finance Industry Group ...