Falling mortgage rates helped spur a modest increase in refinance activity during the first quarter of 2016, but not enough to offset a slowdown in other parts of the securitization market, according to a new Inside MBS & ABS analysis and ranking. A total of $318.34 billion of residential MBS and non-mortgage ABS were issued during the first three months of the year, a 3.6 percent decline from the fourth quarter of 2015. It was the lowest amount of new issuance since the second quarter of 2014 and put the market 8.1 percent behind the level reached in the first quarter of last year. Non-mortgage ABS issuance was...[Includes three data tables]

The volume of prime non-agency mortgage-backed securities issued in the first quarter of 2016 reveals little about how the market is functioning, according to a new analysis and ranking by Inside Nonconforming Markets. Some $2.92 billion in prime non-agency MBS was issued in the first quarter of 2016, a 61.3 percent increase from the previous quarter but a 36.4 percent decline compared with the first quarter of 2015. Only four prime ... [Includes one data chart]

A single mortgage must meet nearly 150 requirements to achieve compliance with the TRID disclosure rule, according to a framework proposed by members of the Structured Finance Industry Group. Third-party due diligence firms will test loans for most of the TRID requirements, according to a draft of the TRID compliance review scope obtained by Inside Nonconforming Markets. Since the TRID rule took effect in October, due diligence firms have found widespread violations ...

Fitch Ratings revised its criteria for rating non-agency mortgage-backed securities backed by non-qualified mortgages last week. The new standards set the stage for Fitch to rate nonprime non-QM MBS. The new non-QM criteria from Fitch include expanded product assumptions for rating nonprime mortgages and loans to self-employed or non-wage-earning borrowers. When determining litigation liability, Fitch said it will make a distinction between non-QMs for “very high ...

Due diligence firms led an effort to issue a draft proposal late last week that would establish a standardized approach for reviewing compliance with the TRID mortgage-disclosure rule. The effort organized by the Structured Finance Industry Group was met with praise by industry participants. “The draft proposal represents a significant step forward for developing an industry standard treatment of errors related to the new residential mortgage disclosure requirements,” Fitch Ratings said. TRID is industry shorthand for a new integrated disclosure rule that covers requirements under the Truth in Lending Act and the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act. Third-party due diligence providers have identified...

Payments were improperly allocated among tranches of a $644.12 million non-agency MBS issued in November 2014 for about a year before being addressed, according to the firms that placed ratings on the deal. RPMLT 2014-1 Trust was issued by Credit Suisse’s DLJ Mortgage Capital and backed by re-performing mortgages. The payment problems appear to be tied to improper reporting by Rushmore Loan Management Services, the servicer of the MBS, and Wells Fargo Bank, the securities administrator for the deal. Fitch Ratings said...

Mortgage securitization made a small comeback in 2015, but softness in the non-agency MBS sector and higher guaranty fees required by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac still played a huge influence in the market, according to a new Inside MBS & ABS analysis. An estimated $1.210 trillion of newly-originated home loans were pooled in mortgage securities last year, representing 69.7 percent of the $1.735 trillion in new first-lien originations. That was up slightly from the 67.8 percent back in 2014, which ranked as the lowest securitization rate since 2004, when just 62.6 percent of new originations were securitized. One issue is...[Includes one data table]

Standard & Poor’s kept its position as the top provider of ratings for newly issued non-mortgage ABS last year, although the volume of deals the company rated fell 10.1 percent from 2014, according to a new Inside MBS & ABS analysis. S&P rated ABS bonds totaling $106.86 billion in new issuance in 2015, or 61.5 percent of deals for which rating information was available. That was down slightly from its league-leading 64.1 percent share of the rated 2014 ABS market. The company’s strong suits were credit card ABS and deals backed by vehicle loans and leases. Fitch Ratings finished...[Includes two data tables]

Proposed standards drafted by due diligence providers for how to handle TRID mortgage disclosure issues could be finalized as soon as next week, according to the Structured Finance Industry Group. TRID compliance violations uncovered by third-party due diligence firms are seen as a major contributor to the slowdown in non-agency mortgage-backed security issuance since the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s TRID rule took effect in October. And some have suggested ...

JPMorgan Chase is set to issue a $1.89 billion non-agency mortgage-backed security stocked with prime conforming mortgages and jumbo loans. The deal will allow Chase to sell credit risk on some of the mortgages the bank has originated and retained even though the loans were eligible for sale to the government-sponsored enterprises. Chase Mortgage Trust 2016-1 received preliminary AAA ratings from Fitch Ratings and Moody’s Investors Service last week ...