Reverse mortgages would be included in Home Mortgage Disclosure Act reports under a proposed rule published recently by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The proposed rule would expand the definition of a “covered loan” under HMDA to include reverse mortgages and home-equity lines of credit (HELOCs), which include reverse mortgages structured as open-end HELOCs. Currently, HMDA regulations do not require reporting of HELOCs, although lenders may do so if they choose. Currently, financial institutions only have to report information on a closed-end reverse mortgage if the transaction involves a home purchase, home improvement or refinancing. Among other things, the CFPB has proposed to require that all reverse mortgages and HELOCs be identified by loan type to distinguish them from other categories of ...

Redwood Trust said monetary policy moves by the Fed have left banks saturated with record levels of excess reserves and lower costs of funds.

One non-QM executive who competes with Impac said the company’s forecast likely will not come true. “Right now, this is a very limited market – and there are no securitizations,” he said.

Banks need incentives to issue non-agency mortgage-backed securities instead of holding loans in portfolio, according to boosters of the non-agency MBS market. The Federal Reserve’s monetary policies and capital requirements set by federal regulators have played a role in the shift from non-agency MBS issuance to banks holding loans in portfolio. “Historically, major banks were the predominant sponsors of private-label securities transactions, especially for 30-year jumbo fixed-rate loans, which are not a good asset/liability match for their balance sheets,” officials at Redwood Trust noted in a comment letter submitted to the Treasury Department. In June, the Treasury issued a request for comments on how to increase non-agency activity in the mortgage market. In 2013, only 4.8 percent of the estimated $272.0 billion in non-agency jumbo originations were included...

A top producing office in Arizona for one mid-sized lender is making it widely known that it would like to move the entire staff to another firm...

SIFMA noted that in recent years both the FHFA and Congress have increased the GSEs’ guarantee fees in an effort to reduce their market share and make non-agency MBS issuance more competitive.

Redwood looks to build on the success it had including non-QMs in a jumbo MBS.

Officials at Ocwen Financial announced late last week that the company plans to use its clean-up call option on loans backing vintage non-agency MBS that it services. Officials see strong profits in paying off non-agency MBS investors at par and then liquidating real estate owned properties whose loans were included in non-agency MBS. “The opportunity results from the arbitrage of the underlying loans in REO being worth more than the securities,” William Erbey, Ocwen’s executive chairman, said during the servicer’s earnings call for the second quarter of 2014. “In other words, the whole is worth less than the sum of the parts.” He said...

Morgan Stanley is set to issue its first jumbo mortgage-backed security since the financial crisis.

The Structured Finance Industry Group issued the first of its proposed standards for non-agency mortgage-backed securities.