Stewart Information Services, which has made a name for itself in the title insurance space, has purchased most of the assets of Allonhill, LLC, a due-diligence firm that conducts reviews on non-agency loans feeding jumbo MBS. No purchase price was disclosed on the sale. As Inside MBS & ABS went to press, both companies were saying little about the sale outside of a short press release. Due-diligence sources familiar with the deal say...

The revised risk-retention rule proposed last week by federal regulators includes provisions that are looser than current practices in the non-agency jumbo mortgage-backed security market and some that are more stringent. Regulators also acknowledge that the proposed rule maintains incentives for lenders to focus on originations of agency mortgages. The regulators now favor aligning the definition of qualified residential mortgages under the risk-retention rule with the qualified mortgage standard ...

Appetite for jumbo mortgages among big banks has limited issuance of non-agency jumbo mortgage-backed securities in recent months. And analysts suggest that the next increase in the guaranty fees charged by the government-sponsored enterprises could shift even more production to bank portfolios instead of into non-agency MBS. Certain big banks continue to offer interest rates on jumbos that are below rates on comparable mortgages with conforming balances. For a 30-year fixed-rate non-agency jumbo with ...

Redwood Trust issued its latest non-agency jumbo mortgage-backed security last week, two days after presale reports on the deal were published. It was a quick turnaround for the real estate investment trust, as jumbo MBS investors have generally had at least a week to mull investing in deals before they close. The mortgages in the $346.32 million Sequoia Mortgage Trust 2013-11 also had an exceptionally young weighted-average loan age of 0.5 months, according to Kroll Bond Rating Agency ...

Credit Suisse issued its latest non-agency jumbo mortgage-backed security at the end of August, about one month after the previous issuance from the investment bank. Mortgages in the latest security, the $399.77 million CSMC Trust 2013-7, were seasoned an average of three months, according to DBRS. The mortgages have a weighted average interest rate of 3.875 percent. All of the mortgages have 30-year fixed-rate terms, and one has a 10-year interest-only feature. The deal received AAA ratings with ...

Correspondent lenders whose mortgages end up in non-agency jumbo mortgage-backed securities could be required by issuers to retain a portion of the risk from the issuance, according to the net risk-retention rule proposed last week by federal regulators. As with the risk-retention rule originally proposed in 2011, the new proposal allows security sponsors to require certain originators to retain risk on securitized assets. Issuers of non-agency MBS subject to risk-retention requirements would be ...

Fannie Mae is starting to market a risk-sharing transaction to investors. A Fannie spokesman said the government-sponsored enterprise is working with the Federal Housing Finance Agency to meet the goals set by the conservator of the GSEs. Mark Lefanowicz will be the CEO of Fenway Summer’s mortgage venture, according to an announcement this week by Raj Date, the founder of the firm. Fenway Summer plans to originate non-qualified mortgages and Lefanowicz has previously worked at ... [Includes five briefs]

Federal regulators this week re-proposed risk-retention requirements with an option to align the definition of qualified residential mortgages with the definition of qualified mortgages. The regulators said the alignment will help increase mortgage availability and reduce compliance costs. “The agencies are concerned about the prospect of imposing further constraints on mortgage credit availability at this time, especially as such constraints might disproportionately affect groups that have ...

Federal regulators next week will propose a new version of the controversial rule setting risk-retention requirements for issuers of non-agency mortgage securities that are not backed by qualified residential mortgages. Among other significant changes, the new proposed rule will likely eliminate premium capture cash reserve account requirements, according to the American Securitization Forum. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. has a meeting scheduled for Aug. 28 to discuss ...

Two Harbors Investment is set to issue its first non-agency jumbo mortgage-backed security. The real estate investment trust is working on building its jumbo conduit operations, but in the meantime, Two Harbors plans to securitize mortgages it purchased from Bank of America. Two Harbors’ $434.17 million Agate Bay Mortgage Trust 2013-1 is set to receive AAA ratings with credit enhancement of 7.70 percent for the top-rated tranche. Mortgages to be included in the security have seasoned for ...