Freddie and Fannie both posted earnings north of $2 billion for the fourth quarter. But Freddie posted a net loss of $475 million in the third quarter of last year after booking a stunning $4.17 billion charge on its derivatives.
Ocwen continues to face regulatory issues, including constraints on growth via acquisitions. However, Fitch recently upgraded a number of the firm’s servicer ratings from a level 4 to a level 3-minus with a “stable” outlook.
As IMFnews went to press Monday, investors were once again punishing the stock, with shares trading down 20 percent on the day to $4.95. Its all-time high is $60 a share.
Ditech increased its servicing portfolio to $266.7 billion from $265.4 billion in 3Q, and said it is pursuing “potential business opportunities,” including plans to pursue more subservicing contracts.
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac continued to trim their retained investment portfolios in late 2015 with most of the focus on shrinking their non-agency MBS and holdings of their own securities. Freddie Mac’s retained mortgage portfolio declined 15.1 percent last year, ending at $346.91 billion, safely below the $359.3 billion cap set by the Federal Housing Finance Agency. The government-sponsored enterprise reduced its non-agency MBS holdings by $25.60 billion, or 38.8 percent, from its yearend 2014 level. While that included hefty declines in both subprime and Alt A MBS, the biggest decline, 41.3 percent, was...[Includes one data table]
Fannie Mae has been actively buying delinquent mortgages out of MBS trusts and plans to eventually issue securities collateralized by the loans, said Timothy Mayopoulos, CEO of the government-sponsored enterprise. During a recent earnings call and question-and-answer period with the press, the CEO noted that the GSE has bought a “substantial” number of mortgages out of trusts with the goal of making them performing again. “Over the next year or two,” Fannie will...
One of those GSE watchers is Bose George of Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, who told us: “I see no reason for the administration to negotiate in any meaningful way with the plaintiffs..."