Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac both reported significant increases in net income during the second quarter based largely on hefty gains on their hedging activities. The two government-sponsored enterprises earned a combined $8.81 billion during the second quarter, up from just $2.41 billion for the first three months of 2015. As a result, the Treasury Department will sweep a combined $8.26 billion from Fannie and Freddie into its coffers. Rising interest rates played...

The last time Ginnie Mae was the top agency issuer was in January of 2009...

The Fannie Mae portion of the MSRs is top heavy in California product at 44 percent of the receivables.

The Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago, which operates the Mortgage Partnership Finance Direct Program for nine FHLBanks, began issuing Ginnie Mae securities last week. Its first issuance was a $5 million security backed by mortgages originated by community lenders through the MPF Government MBS product. With the MPF Government MBS product, the MPF program buys fixed-rate mortgage loans originated by FHLBank members that are insured or guaranteed by government agencies. Matt Feldman, president of the Chicago FHLBank, called it “an important milestone for the MPF Program,” adding that Ginnie Mae securities are among the most liquid financial instruments in the world. He said the new product will allow FHLBank members to offer competitive FHA, VA and government guaranteed Native American and rural housing mortgages.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are getting more business in the so-called conforming-jumbo market this year, according to a new Inside The GSEs analysis of mortgage-backed securities data.Through the first six months of 2015, the two GSEs securitized $39.44 billion of home loans that exceed $417,000, the maximum loan amount in areas that are not designated high-cost markets. That figure, including only mortgages for one-unit properties, was up 112.5 percent from the first half of 2014, about double the 55.8 percent growth rate in total Fannie/Freddie business over that period. Conforming-jumbo loans accounted for 9.6 percent of total GSE business on single-unit properties in the first half of this year, compared to 7.1 percent for the first six months of 2014.

ARM MBS production by Fannie and Freddie in the first half of 2015 was down 20.1 percent from a year ago.

Heavy refinance activity in the first half of 2015 caused a significant shift in the kinds of single-family MBS produced by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae. Issuance of MBS backed by adjustable-rate mortgages has dropped sharply in 2015, and ARMs haven’t had much of a presence for years. ARM MBS production by Fannie and Freddie in the first half of 2015 was down 20.1 percent from a year ago. The drop in Ginnie ARM securitization was less severe, 18.3 percent, but ARMs accounted for an even smaller share of overall production (1.7 percent) at Ginnie than the 2.9 percent share they had in government-sponsored enterprise MBS. Oddly, the heavy refinance market in the first half of 2015 did not appear...[Includes two data tables]

Over the past few weeks, an unconfirmed rumor was making the rounds that Bank of America would once again begin securitizing newly originated mortgages through Fannie Mae. But a quick check with both parties indicates that the “cold war” between the two isn’t likely to thaw anytime soon. Terry Francisco, a spokesman for BofA said the bank is only selling Home Affordable Refinance Program loans to Fannie. The bank, he noted, discontinued securitizing newly originated non-HARP loans through the government-sponsored enterprise in 2012. According to figures compiled by Inside MBS & ABS, over the past three years almost all of the non-refinance activity between the two has centered...

The Securities and Exchange Commission recently loosened risk-retention requirements somewhat for collateralized loan obligations, giving in to requests from industry participants. Risk-retention requirements for non-residential securitized products, including CLOs, take effect Dec, 24, 2016. Federal regulators issued a final rule for risk-retention requirements in October 2014 and CLO industry participants have been working since then to try and get regulators to address issues created by the final rule. In mid-July, Crescent Capital Group wrote...

Effective immediately, any Ginnie Mae issuer that wants to bring servicing in-house from a subservicer must get the agency’s prior written approval...