The long-anticipated final implementation of the so-called Volcker rule this spring will have a limited impact on securitized products, according to a recent report by Barclays. A requirement of the Dodd-Frank Act to prohibit banking entities from engaging in proprietary trading and making investments with private-equity funds and hedge funds, the Volcker rule was finalized by five federal regulators last month and becomes effective April 1, 2014. Banks should expect...

New issuance of single-family MBS and non-mortgage ABS fell sharply in the fourth quarter of 2013 as mortgage refinance activity continued to decline and ABS production ended the year quietly, according to a new Inside MBS & ABS analysis. Monthly production of single-family MBS went into a steady, year-long decline at the beginning of 2013. In December, total single-family MBS issuance fell to just $77.1 billion, the lowest monthly production figure since July 2011. December marked the third straight month with MBS issuance below $100 billion, and it gave the fourth quarter an anemic $254.8 billion in total issuance – a two-and-a-half-year low. Although Freddie Mac scored a minor increase in December, the agency MBS market fell...[Includes two data charts]

The Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association is opposed to the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority’s recent proposal to begin disseminating data for transactions in ABS and non-agency commercial MBS, out of concern it could compromise market liquidity. At issue are FINRA’s proposed changes in Trade Reporting and Compliance Engine to disseminate additional ABS transactions and at the same time reduce the reporting periods for such securities. The proposal would implement shorter reporting timeframes for ABS transactions (initially 45 minutes for six months, then 15 minutes), as well as real-time dissemination of trade information. “While SIFMA members agree...

The next action on risk-retention standards required by the Dodd-Frank Act could be more than a year away, according to agendas recently released by federal regulators. Meanwhile, new disclosure requirements for MBS and ABS could be released soon by the Securities and Exchange Commission. Federal regulators listed risk-retention requirements as a “long-term action” on their fall regulatory agendas, with no indication of when the next action will be taken or what that action might be. The comment period on a revised proposal for risk-retention requirements closed...

Earlier this week, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau issued a final rule that allows the bureau to supervise for the first time the nonbank servicers of private and federal student loans that qualify as “larger participants” in the student-loan servicing market. With an emphasis on supervision, the rule is not expected to have much of an initial effect upon the secondary market for student loans. But the CFPB’s expanding role into the sector could change that, especially if there is a crisis in student-loan lending. The bureau’s new rule defines...

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, an internal cop for the U.S. securities industry, has proposed a narrower definition of “asset-backed security” to facilitate the reporting of certain transactions, including Rule 144A ABS transactions, to the group’s disclosure system. The new redefined ABS category would apply to a broad group of securities, including ABS pools backed by credit-card receivables, student loans, auto loans and other products and instruments that currently fall under the ABS umbrella. The proposed changes concern required reporting to FINRA’s Trade Reporting and Compliance Engine. Under FINRA’s proposal, ABS is...

Commercial banks and savings institutions reached a record level of investment in non-mortgage ABS during the third quarter of 2013, according to a new Inside MBS & ABS analysis and ranking. Banks and thrifts held a combined $173.12 billion of non-mortgage ABS as of the end of September, up 4.4 percent from the previous quarter. The industry’s aggregate ABS portfolio was up 6.9 percent from the third quarter of last year. Banks and thrifts pushed...[Includes one data chart]

It was pretty much stimulus as usual at the Federal Open Market Committee this week, as the Fed showed not the slightest indication of when it would begin winding down the third phase of its quantitative easing program, known informally as QE3 when it was first unveiled, but increasingly referred to as QE Infinity by those who emphasize its long, drawn-out nature. The status quo results mean the Fed will continue adding to its agency MBS portfolio at a pace of $40 billion per month and longer-term Treasury securities at a pace of $45 billion per month, and keep plowing its principal payments from its agency debt and MBS holdings back into agency MBS and rolling over maturing Treasury securities at auction. Among those voting in favor of keeping the Fed’s pedal to the metal were...

Standard & Poor’s rated more non-agency MBS, by dollar volume, than any of its peers during the first nine months of 2013, according to a new Inside MBS & ABS analysis and ranking. S&P rated $11.65 billion of non-agency MBS issued through the end of September. Although that was more than any of the other four rating services, it represented just 43.4 percent of total issuance in a market that is significantly more fragmented than it was before the financial crisis. Back in 2006, for example, S&P rated...[Includes two data charts]

A rebound in asset securitizations backed by car loans, dealer financing and credit cards fueled a solid 9.9 percent increase in non-mortgage ABS issuance during the third quarter of 2013, according to a new analysis and ranking by Inside MBS & ABS. A total of $42.00 billion of non-mortgage ABS were issued during the third quarter, reversing a sharp decline in new issuance during the previous three-month period. It lifted total production for the first nine months of 2013 to $127.34 billion, a 14.7 percent increase over the same period last year. The biggest component in the market has been...[Includes two data charts]