The mystery surrounding how much Fannie Mae really earned in the fourth quarter – and full year – could be solved by the end of next week, as the Federal Housing Finance Agency softens its stance toward allowing the GSE to capture at least a portion of its $64 billion valuation allowance for deferred tax assets. Industry officials who claim to have knowledge of the matter said FHFA is actively working with the GSE to resolve the situation. One former Fannie Mae official said it’s likely the agency will allow both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to claim deferred tax assets over several quarters.

Banks and thrifts repurchased fewer mortgages in 2012 than in any year since the buyback blight spread through the market in 2008, according to a new Inside Mortgage Trends analysis of bank call report data. Banks and thrifts reported a total of $13.97 billion in repurchases and indemnifications on single-family mortgages during 2012, a 33.3 percent decline from the previous year. It was the third consecutive year of declining annual buyback activity after the industry reported a staggering ... [Includes one data chart]

Two banks re-entered the non-agency mortgage-backed security market in late March after years of holding such originations in portfolio. JPMorgan Chase issued a $616.26 million non-agency jumbo MBS and EverBank Financial is set to issue a $307.36 million non-agency jumbo security. The banks join Redwood Trust, which was the only non-agency jumbo MBS issuer in 2010 and 2011, and Credit Suisse, which resumed non-agency jumbo MBS issuance in 2012. The banks issued non-agency jumbo MBS even though they ...

First Guaranty Mortgage Corp., a provider of special niche products, has announced plans to push more mainstream FHA/VA and Fannie Mae products through its wholesale broker channel. The plan is to add the popular Home Affordable Refinance Program, loans backed by the Rural Housing Service, and the FHA and VA streamline refinancing programs to the current wholesale menu of manufactured home loans and 203(k) home rehabilitation and repair loans. “We’d like our wholesale side to be better-rounded and so we’re ...

The use of premium pricing to induce more borrowers to opt for FHA streamline refinancing may be a boon for FHA borrowers but clearly a bane for investors in Ginnie Mae mortgage-backed securities, according to Barclays Research analysts. There are indications that more FHA lenders are resorting to premium pricing, in which borrowers pay a higher mortgage rate in return for lowering the cost of obtaining the loan. Its use seems to be increasing, which also raises the risk of Ginnie Mae prepayments, said ...

Despite a sharp increase in mortgage originations last year, the number of state-licensed loan originators increased by just 2.7 percent compared to 2011, according to data from the Nationwide Mortgage Licensing System analyzed by Inside Mortgage Trends. A total of 519,428 loan originators were either licensed by the states or registered as staff of a bank, thrift or credit union. The highest concentration of these LOs was in California, where 15.3 percent of the industry ... [Includes one data chart]

Bank and thrift holdings of first-lien mortgages increased in 2012 even as major banks sold sig-nificant amounts of troubled loans. The growth was driven by Wells Fargo and a number of mid-sized banks, holding certain conforming loans in portfolio along with non-agency originations.

Banks and rating services have strong concerns regarding proposed revisions to the Basel securitization framework that would impact capital requirements for securities holdings. They warn that the proposal would discourage banks from participating in the securitization markets.In December, the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision proposed a revised securitization framework it said would make capital requirements more prudent and risk sensitive, mitigate reliance on external credit ratings and reduce the so-called cliff effects in capital requirements. The BCBS proposed two possible hierarchies for assigning capital, enhancements to current ratings-based approaches, and new approaches.

A federal judge in Los Angeles last week denied a motion by Bank of America’s Countrywide Financial unit to dismiss securities fraud claims by the Federal Housing Finance Agency on behalf of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac for toxic MBS purchased by the government-sponsored enterprises.The FHFA’s complaint alleges that Fannie and Freddie purchased approximately $26.6 billion in residential MBS that Countrywide sold from Aug. 30, 2005, to Jan. 23, 2008. The agency alleges negligent misrepresentations and fraud related to the offerings of Countrywide MBS.

Banks large and small varied their portfolio lending tactics in 2012, with some increasing first-lien originations for portfolio and others allowing runoff and even selling some of their holdings. Overall, bank and thrift first-lien portfolio holdings increased in 2012 compared with the previous year, with originations outpacing prepayments and sales. Banks and thrifts held $1.80 trillion in first-lien mortgages in portfolio at the end of 2012, up 2.3 percent from the end of 2011, according to ... [Includes one data chart]