Commercial banks and thrifts continued to have modest interest in holding non-mortgage ABS during the first quarter of 2017, according to a new Inside MBS & ABS ranking and analysis. The banking industry held $123.43 billion of ABS in its held-to-maturity and available-for-sale investment portfolios at the end of March. That was down 0.3 percent from December. The overall supply of ABS outstanding, excluding collateralized debt obligations, fell...[Includes two data tables]

While the industry continues to debate the merits of allowing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to build a capital cushion for “zero day” in 2018, investors in MBS have a different agenda: making sure that whatever the future holds for the government-sponsored enterprises, it had better include a federal guarantee on conventional mortgage securities. Without it, the MBS market would suffer greatly – as would residential lending and the sale of new and existing homes. So far, no one knows...

There are signs of trouble ahead for the subprime auto ABS sector that warrant closer attention to the financial health of that class of borrowers, but it looks like the rising risk is contained, according to some research reports published this week by a pair of Wall Street analysts. In one of the reports, Wells Fargo Securities analysts John McElravey and Ryan Brinkoetter warned of the implications for the fiscal soundness of the borrowers involved. They reviewed the total and voluntary prepayment rates of the major subprime auto ABS issuers, and calculated the average prepayment curves by deal age for issuer and vintage over the 2013-2016 time period. “Much of the analytical focus in auto ABS has been...

Four whole-business securitizations totaling $3.58 billion are in the works, according to presale reports, including a $900.0 million deal from Coinstar. The securitization from Coinstar received a preliminary BBB rating from Kroll Bond Rating Agency. The company owns nearly 20,000 kiosks that count change located in grocery stores and other retail venues, mostly in the U.S. The company generates...

There’s plenty of talk in mortgage technology circles of e-mortgages, re-imagining the loan origination process and digitizing back-office operations, but what about the regulatory, supervisory and examination front? During a recent interview with Inside Mortgage Trends, Sharif Mahdavian, vice president of national sales at ComplianceEase, a leading industry vendor, revealed that regulators are increasingly moving to an “e-examination” phase to augment their current level of ...

In the first quarter, PennyMac ranked fourth among all home lenders, trailing Wells Fargo, Chase Home Finance and Quicken, according to a ranking from Inside Mortgage Finance.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau last week announced it will assess the effectiveness of its ability-to-repay/qualified-mortgage rule, as per the requirements of the Dodd-Frank Act, and is asking for public input. The CFPB will examine the impact of major provisions of the rule on mortgage costs, origination volumes, approval rates and subsequent loan performance. A special focus is on self-employed borrowers, those with seasonal or part-time income and borrowers with income from assets. Another topic for review is...

Citadel Servicing Corp. and Angel Oak Companies – two of the most active nonprime lenders operating today – are looking at record originations for the second quarter and all of 2017. But don’t expect a torrent of conventional lenders to jump into the space anytime soon. According to interviews conducted by Inside Mortgage Finance in recent weeks, there’s plenty of interest in the “new” subprime market, a business predicated on sober loan-to-value ratios and rigorous underwriting, but most conventional lenders do not see it as safe. At least not yet. “Right now, there’s...

Almost every week it seems like a lender launches a digital mortgage process allowing for loan applications to be received and processed online effortlessly and efficiently. However, according to a recent survey of lenders, a number of barriers stand in the way of digital mortgages. Lenders cited various technology issues, costs and difficulties getting loan officers to change behavior as barriers to digitizing the mortgage process. Some 73 lenders participated in the survey administered by the Strategic Mortgage Finance Group earlier this year. The top barrier to digital mortgage offerings was...

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is destined for major changes whether they come via the federal courts or Congress, but which one has the bigger impact on the agency’s future is a question that seems to divide industry attorneys. In an analysis, Jerome Walker, a bank regulatory compliance attorney with the Duane Morris law firm in New York, writes it is likely that courts are a greater threat to the CFPB at this point than Congress. Although the House Financial Services Committee has approved legislation that would make major changes at the bureau, the legislation’s future in the Senate is uncertain. “Recent court cases, however, have proven...