Risk-sharing transactions from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have delivered strong returns for investors in the past year, but that could change under the monetary policies of the Trump administration, according to analysts at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. The analysts recently dialed down their recommendation on the risk-sharing transactions issued by the two government-sponsored enterprises to “underweight.” “Trump’s victory paves...

With November’s election potentially unraveling key features of the financial regulatory structure instituted over the past eight years, experts say it’s time for policymakers to figure out what’s working and what needs to be fixed. During a panel session hosted by the Bipartisan Policy Center, Richard Berner, director of the Office of Financial Research, said that more information is needed about liquidity because a lack of it is often cited as one of the unintended consequences of regulation. “Market liquidity is...

Freddie Mac successfully boarded many of its MBS issuance functions on the Common Securitization Platform on Nov. 21. The government-sponsored enterprise is now using the platform for its data acceptance, issuance support and bond administration activities, according to Freddie and the Federal Housing Finance Agency. Freddie reiterated...

Late this week, Nationstar’s common was selling for $19.17 a share, just pennies below its yearly high. PennyMac Financial topped its high for the year.

Caliber Home Loans was the only subprime servicer among the top 10 to increase its subprime portfolio compared with the third quarter of 2015

In case you’re not keeping tally, there are roughly 387 calendar days remaining before the “capital buffer” at Fannie and Freddie falls to zero on Jan. 1, 2018.

Mortgage buybacks by companies that sell loans into Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac mortgage-backed securities took an unlikely turn higher in the third quarter of 2016, according to a new Inside Mortgage Trends analysis of repurchase disclosures by the two government-sponsored enterprises. But the sudden 31.5 percent jump in industry-wide buybacks was largely due to one company – Bank of America – paying off the liabilities it inherited from Countrywide ... [Includes two data charts]

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac had markedly different experiences in November in terms of new single-family business activity. Issuance of Fannie mortgage-backed securities fell 25.9 percent from October to November, while Freddie production soared 13.6 percent higher, according to a new Inside The GSEs analysis and ranking. The most likely explanation for the divergence is that Freddie had more business days in which November MBS were issued. Both GSEs observed two legal holidays – Veterans Day and Thanksgiving – which knocked the number of business days down to 20 last month. But Fannie also took off the day after Thanksgiving in terms of new MBS issuance, while Freddie kept the machinery running. And although mortgage sellers set up new...

Comments made by Treasury Secretary Designate Steven Mnuchin about privatizing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac caused much speculation around Washington last week. But analysts predict that privatization in the near term is unlikely. Mnuchin criticized the fact that the GSEs have been in conservatorship this long. During a cable television interview he said, “We’ve got to get Fannie and Freddie out of government ownership,” adding that it often displaces private lending in the mortgage markets. “So let me just be clear. We’ll make sure that when they’re restructured they’ll be safer and they won’t get taken over again, but we’ve got to get them out of government control.”

Freddie Mac announced late this week that it is now using the common securitization platform after successfully implementing the first release on Nov. 21. As planned, the GSE will use the CSP for data acceptance, issuance support, and bond administration activities related to current single-class, fixed-rate, mortgage-backed securities. The first release was a test of sorts to make sure that the system, operations, and controls of the platform are functional. It also sets the stage for the second release when Fannie will begin using the CSP in 2018. Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Mel Watt said the successful implementation of the first release is a “significant milestone” toward the ultimate goal of a common securitization platform and a single security.