The gradual slowdown in agency MBS purchases by the Federal Reserve helped real estate investment trusts grow their MBS portfolios during the second quarter of 2014. A new Inside MBS & ABS analysis of REIT earnings reports found that the industry held $286.3 billion of MBS as of the end of June. That was up 9.7 percent from the previous quarter and marked the first increase in REIT MBS holdings since the third quarter of 2012, when the aggregate industry portfolio was $374.2 billion. At the top of the sector, Annaly Capital Management reported...

The Department of Justice recently subpoenaed GM Financial and Santander Consumer USA, two of the largest subprime auto ABS issuers in the U.S., over concerns about their subprime auto lending and securitization operations, the two companies recently revealed. The developments suggest that such regulatory scrutiny of the sector in the wake of the financial crisis is intensifying, market participants and policy analysts say. Whether that will pose a substantial risk to other lenders remains to be seen. GM Financial announced...

The Structured Finance Industry Group has proposed investor-friendly standards for non-agency mortgage-backed securities in an effort to increase activity in the sector. The first “green paper” on Project RMBS 3.0 focuses on representations and warranties, triggers for independent reviews and disclosure of underwriting guidelines. “The goal here is to produce a proposal for standards that we would hope the industry adopts,” said Richard Johns, SFIG’s executive director ...

Morgan Stanley was set to issue its first jumbo mortgage-backed security since the financial crisis this week. The $256.48 million deal differs from most jumbo MBS issued in recent years in that all the loans were sourced from one lender, and they’re all adjustable-rate mortgages, including a fair number of interest-only loans. Morgan Stanley Residential Mortgage Loan Trust 2014-1 was scheduled to close Aug. 15. Fitch Ratings and Standard & Poor’s gave the deal ...

Redwood Trust is set to significantly increase the number of lenders that sell jumbo mortgages to the real estate investment trust, according to company officials, largely from a new partnership with the Federal Home Loan Banks. Redwood had 140 active sellers at the end of June. The REIT plans to start testing its high-balance loan program with the FHLBanks’ Mortgage Partnership Finance Program in the fourth quarter of this year. Redwood said about 750 of the more than ...

It was business as usual in the subprime servicing market during the second quarter of 2014, save for the lack of large transfers of servicing from banks to nonbank special servicers. Subprime mortgage performance continued to improve and the amount of subprime mortgages outstanding continued to decline. Some $374.0 billion in subprime mortgages were outstanding as of the end of the second quarter of 2014 ... [Includes one data chart]

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s ability-to-repay requirements and standards for qualified mortgages have reduced originations of jumbo purchase-mortgages, according to 50.7 percent of the 67 bank jumbo lenders recently surveyed by the Federal Reserve. An Inside Nonconforming Markets analysis of the survey results reveals that the major impediments to originations are income verification requirements and ... [Includes one data chart]

The government-sponsored enterprises’ holdings of nonprime mortgages continue to decline, largely due to runoff, according to a new analysis by Inside Nonconforming Markets. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac held a combined $252.22 billion in Alt A and subprime mortgage assets as of the end of the second quarter of 2014, down 18.3 percent from the second quarter of 2013. Purchased/guaranteed mortgages account for ... [Includes one data chart]

Moody’s Investors Service this week announced a proposed update to its rating criteria for jumbo mortgage-backed securities. Under the proposed criteria, collateral modeling will be based on a new version of Moody’s Individual Loan Analysis tool as opposed to the portfolio analysis tool Moody’s has used since 2008. Navneet Agarwal, a managing director at Moody’s, said the proposed changes set “a new standard for transparency” ... [Includes six briefs]

FHA Commissioner Carol Galante has announced plans to step down from her current post, leaving behind a Mutual Mortgage Insurance Fund that appears well on its way to recovery and a slumping FHA business. Industry response to Galante’s Aug. 12 announcement was mixed. Some stakeholders applauded her toughness and resolve in steering FHA through hard times, while others criticized her for policies that made it more difficult and costly for first-time homebuyers to obtain an FHA-insured mortgage loan. Galante’s nearly three-and-a-half year stint as FHA commissioner was highlighted by her efforts to stabilize the FHA’s ailing Mutual Mortgage Insurance Fund, reduce losses and improve lender oversight. She achieved these goals by creating a comprehensive risk-management structure at FHA, revamping FHA pricing and credit policies, and ...