The former analyst said Freddie has “an inferior security [MBS] necessitating the need for a lot of time and expense to create a common securitization platform…”

Six months into the latest representations-and-warranties framework from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, lenders said they appreciate the added clarity but are approaching the changes with caution as more transparency is still needed. The new rules, announced by the government-sponsored enterprises in November 2014, were made to ease lenders’ concerns about repurchase requests for loans that contain data inaccuracies or misrepresentations. During last week’s secondary market conference sponsored by the Mortgage Bankers Association, Jeremy Potter, general counsel and chief compliance officer at Norcom Mortgage, said...

Nonbanks have indisputably bought a bigger share of the mortgage servicing market in recent years, but that doesn’t mean some banks haven’t been buyers during the migration. The servicing asset was a pariah not long ago, said Mark Garland, president of MountainView Capital Holdings, during a panel session at the recent secondary market conference sponsored by the Mortgage Bankers Association. “It was stepping into a buyback obligation. Suddenly, two years ago, it became the greatest asset ever,” he said. And although Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo and Citibank have pruned...

Black Knight plans to expand its offerings to existing clients, gain new clients, introduce new products and selectively acquire smaller vendors...

Although only 13 banks reported net losses on mortgage banking during 1Q – compared to 756 institutions with net profits – several of the top players earned less than they did in the fourth quarter.

Another concern that has come up regarding employment is the graying of the mortgage executive suites.

One new portfolio that came out for bid recently entails the transfer of $328 million of Fannie Mae receivables in Massachusetts.

One market participant, speaking under the condition his name not be used, likened it to MBS buyers “going on strike.”

The Federal Home Loan Bank system earned $1.015 billion in the first quarter of 2015, according to figures compiled by the system’s Office of Finance, an 82.6 percent increase when compared to the same quarter in 2014. The sharp increase was primarily the result of higher gains on litigation settlements, according to the Office of Finance. Litigation settlements accounted for $480 million in gains for the three months ending on March 31. The OF said the bulk of it was “driven by the FHLBank of San Francisco’s $450 million settlement of certain claims arising from investments in private-label mortgage-backed securities.” Total FHLBank assets for the first three months of the year were down at $879.9 billion, a 3.7 percent decrease from...

Investor appetite for buying and flipping residential houses appears to have eased in April, and Texas may be partially to blame, according to Auction.com’s 2015 Real Estate Investor Activity Report for April. In April, there were fewer investors looking to flip their house purchase: 50.4 percent, down from 53.5 percent for the first quarter of 2015, the report noted. The percentage of investors planning to hold the residential property and rent it out grew to 48.3 percent last month from 44.8 percent in the first quarter.Although there was strong preference among investors in live auctions for flipping over hold-to-rent in states where Auction.com conducts live bidding, there was less enthusiasm for it in Texas, the report noted. The Lone ...