The suit was filed in December 2012 on behalf of hundreds of thousands of investors who bought stock in an offering by Fannie in May 2008, four months before the GSE was taken over by the government.
New MBS and ABS issuance slowed in the second quarter of 2013 as rising interest rates in June stalled the market’s momentum. A total of $495.4 billion in residential MBS and non-mortgage ABS were issued during the second quarter of 2013, according to a new Inside MBS & ABS market analysis. That was down 3.7 percent from the first quarter of the year, although total production during the first half of 2013 was still up 17.8 percent from the same period last year. June was...[Includes one data chart]
Credit Suisse and Shellpoint Partners decided to damn the torpedoes and issue a total of three non-agency jumbo MBS at the end of the second quarter of 2013 despite concerns about investor appetite. The Shellpoint MBS was a proof-of-concept affair, while at least one of the Credit Suisse deals appears to be aimed at unloading seasoned originations from one lender. The three deals totaled $1.10 billion. Analysts at Bank of America Merrill Lynch said...
Could rising interest rates and a shake-up in the repo market cause some real estate investment trusts that specialize in the MBS market to dump securities en masse? A new report from Fitch Ratings notes that repurchase agreements represent 90 percent of agency mortgage REIT liabilities. “In a deleveraging scenario, MBS investors reliant on repo borrowing may need to liquidate some of their holdings,” writes Fitch analyst Robert Grossman and his team. If that happens it might create what Fitch calls a “knock-on” effect for MBS valuations and the mortgage market in general. The cash provided via repo lines is...
Credit unions held a total of $107.1 billion of MBS in their portfolios at the end of the first quarter of 2013, according to a new Inside MBS & ABS analysis and ranking of call report data. That was up 4.9 percent from the previous period, a relatively strong increase in a market where the supply of MBS outstanding has barely budged and the Federal Reserve represents a huge competitor for new issuance. Compared to a year ago, credit union MBS holdings were up 10.9 percent, while the total MBS market actually declined by 1.4 percent. Credit unions for the most part have ignored...[Includes one data chart]
The Federal Reserve decided against instituting new mortgage risk weightings in issuing its Basel III final rule this week, a decision that will likely make it easier and cheaper for financial institutions to hold onto their legacy non-agency MBS and thereby reduce the pressure they may feel to deleverage their balance sheets. “In light of new regulations designed to improve the quality of mortgage underwriting as well as continued uncertainty regarding the aggregate impact of pending mortgage-related rulemakings, the draft final rule does not include the proposed risk weights and instead incorporates the risk weights for residential mortgages under the general risk-based capital rules, which assign a risk weight of either 50 percent (for most first-lien exposures) or 100 percent for other residential mortgage exposures,” the Fed said. That means...
A Wells Fargo securities trial is underway in Minnesota federal district court where jurors will decide whether the financial institution had misrepresented the safety and soundness of its securities lending program and lied to investors about the risks involved or whether the economic crisis was to blame for investor losses. The securities lending program (SLP) was marketed to large institutional investors, including pension funds. As part of the SLP, Wells Fargo held the participants’ securities in custodial accounts and loaned them temporarily to brokers. The brokers then posted cash collateral, which the bank invested until the securities were returned. Under agreements with SLP participants, Wells Fargo acted...
Sponsors of the highly anticipated, bipartisan Senate legislation intended to reform the mortgage-finance system without Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac unveiled their final proposal last week.But with reform of the FHA more politically urgent and a more radical House bill waiting in the wings, even the Senate bill’s most avid industry supporters don’t expect the measure to gain much political traction in the near term.
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