Kroll Bond Rating Agency updated the default and loss model the firm uses for non-agency mortgage-backed securities last week. Among other changes, the rating service reduced its loss expectations for purchase mortgages, reduced assumed timelines for foreclosures and formalized the penalty for mortgages with debt-to-income ratios above 45.0 percent. Titan Capital Solutions announced this week that it will purchase mortgages ... [Includes five briefs]

Issuers of non-agency MBS finished 2014 with a flourish, as production totaled $10.63 billion in the fourth quarter, according to a new Inside MBS & ABS analysis and ranking. But despite a 4.1 percent gain during the fourth quarter, 2014’s total issuance of $35.14 billion came up 9.6 percent short of the total for 2013. The only sector that showed any growth last year was the scratch-and-dent market, where issuance was up 17.6 percent from 2013. In fact, securitization of nonperforming and re-performing mortgages accounted for...[Includes three data charts]

Although Ocwen Financial is in regulatory hot water with California – a dicey proposition given the state’s importance to the mortgage industry – the nation’s fourth-largest servicer will continue with a strategy of non-agency MBS clean-up calls and Ginnie Mae buyouts. At least, that’s what company Executive Vice President and Chief Investment Officer John Britti told Inside MBS & ABS late this week. Britti confirmed continuance of the strategy, but declined to offer any new details or color. The big question, of course, is...

Even though modified loans represent a larger share of non-agency MBS trusts these days, structured product analysts at Wells Fargo Securities have detected a notable year-over-year decrease in modifications. To be sure, modified loans have become an increasing portion of such trusts lately. “About 62 percent of subprime in terms of [unpaid principal balance] has been modified, 39 percent of option adjustable-rate mortgages, 31 percent of Alt A, and 19 percent of prime,” the analysts reported. “Modification activity, however, has slowed down...

Risk weights established by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision for holdings of securitized assets won’t have much of an impact on U.S. banks, according to analysts at Barclays Capital. It’s unclear which banks the risk weights will be applied to and many U.S. banks have transitioned to similar methods to evaluate capital requirements for their holdings of MBS and ABS. The BCBS issued a revised framework for calculating risk weights on banks’ securitization exposures in December. The framework is set to take effect in certain countries beginning in 2018. It was issued to address concerns that banks were holding insufficient capital for certain securitized assets and to reduce the reliance on external ratings to derive securitization risk weights. Barclays said...

The U.S. Supreme Court this week denied a petition by major banks to reject a lower court decision to allow a National Credit Union Administration MBS lawsuit to go forward. The SCOTUS chose not to hear the case, a lawsuit filed by the NCUA to recover damages suffered by five now-defunct federal credit unions as a result of investments in non-agency MBS sold by the banks. The suit is...

New MBS and ABS issuance last year was down 34.4 percent from 2013, largely due to a huge decline in agency single-family MBS production, according to a new Inside MBS & ABS analysis. A total of $1.145 trillion of residential MBS and non-mortgage ABS were issued during 2014, the lowest annual production volume since 2000. Last year got off to a very slow start, with just $517.0 billion in new issuance through the first six months of 2014, before gaining pace during the second half. Total issuance fell 4.8 percent from the third to the fourth quarter. Agency MBS remained...[Includes three data charts]

The Securities and Exchange Commission uncovered a number of compliance issues at the credit rating services in 2013, according to a report released by the federal regulator at the end of December. However, compliance is improving compared with previous exams conducted by the SEC. In exams covering rating activity in 2013, the SEC found issues ranging from conflicts of interest to adherence to policies for reviewing credit ratings to the use of affiliates or third-party contractors. The SEC didn’t single out any of the rating services other than to note whether an issue occurred at one of the big three rating firms or at one of several smaller rating services. For example, the SEC said...

The U.S. non-agency MBS space is looking more inviting these days, even though progress is painfully slow and there remains plenty of room for improvement, analysts at Fitch Ratings have concluded in a report out this week. The Fitch analysts said that the underwriting of residential mortgages has improved dramatically since the financial crisis, with recent vintages demonstrating the best performance on record so far. “New legislation has completely eliminated...

The strong growth in issuance of jumbo mortgage-backed securities seen since 2010 stumbled in 2014, according to a new ranking and analysis by Inside Nonconforming Markets. Some $9.79 billion in jumbo MBS were issued last year, down 25.4 percent from activity in 2013. Issuance has been constrained by bank portfolio demand for jumbo mortgages. The spike in interest rates in 2013 led to nine months of very low issuance. Rates have since fallen and a number of new jumbo MBS issuers have entered the market, but quarterly volume has struggled to reach the levels seen in early 2013. Those looking for a silver lining could...[Includes one data chart]