Fitch held on to the top ranking in ABS ratings through the first nine months of 2025. Kroll stretched its lead in RMBS ratings.

The request came from the CRE Finance Council, the Mortgage Bankers Association and the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association. The groups said the disclosure requirements have negatively impacted the commercial MBS market.

KBRA downgrades jumbo MBS issued by JPMorgan Chase in 2015; Community Bank sells MBS holdings at a loss; Morningstar details private-rating share.

Researchers tracked ratings and defaults on non-agency MBS between 2013 and 2022, finding that Morningstar’s ratings were more conservative than ratings from the big three firms. However, Morningstar’s ratings produced more “false alarms” about potential defaults than the big firms.

Due diligence firms can use the review scope to assess seasoned residential mortgages, assigning positive grades for loans with 36 months of strong performance.

JPMorgan Chase is marketing a prime non-agency MBS with a payment structure typically only used with expanded-credit MBS. Fitch applauded the move.

Moody’s proposed using two home-price forecasts when assessing loans in residential MBS. Currently, the rating service uses one fairly conservative forecast for home prices.

On some recently issued expanded-credit MBS, servicing fees have been as low as 5 basis points. S&P and some other rating services review deals applying assumptions for higher servicing fees.

Rising mortgage delinquencies increase spreads on residential MBS, as expected, along with spreads on credit card, student loan and auto loan ABS.

S&P remained the top provider of ABS ratings at the nine-month mark despite a 24% drop in the third quarter, while Fitch held its lead rating residential MBS. (Includes two data tables.)