New documents were recently unsealed in Fairholme Funds vs. United States that give GSE shareholders more hope in proving the Treasury sweep was designed with an ulterior motive in mind.“The release of these documents is a very positive development in the case against Fannie [Mae] and Freddie [Mac]. These documents fatally undermine the government’s claim,” said Pete Patterson, a partner with the Cooper & Kirk law firm representing the plaintiffs. Officials from Treasury have repeatedly said that the sweep was designed to prevent the two mortgage giants from collapsing. But the latest batch of 33 confidential emails and memos released under court order appears to illustrate otherwise.
A recent ruling by the Supreme Court of the United States affirmed a three-year statute of repose for certain securities-related lawsuits. The ruling will likely limit the claims that can be brought by investors in faulty MBS and ABS. The case of California Public Employees’ Retirement System v. ANZ Securities involved an attempt by CalPERS to opt out of a class-action lawsuit against securities underwriters and file a separate claim in a timeframe beyond a three-year limitation. In a 5-4 decision at the end of June, the Supreme Court affirmed rulings by lower courts that determined that CalPERS’ action was untimely under the three-year statute of repose in the Securities Act of 1933. The majority opinion written by Justice Anthony Kennedy said...
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac shareholders claimed that recently unsealed government documents support their contention that the main goal of the Treasury Department’s quarterly sweep of the government-sponsored enterprises’ earnings was to keep the two GSEs in conservatorship. Officials from Treasury have consistently said that the sweep was designed to prevent the two mortgage giants from collapsing. But the latest batch of 33 confidential emails and memos released under court order in the case of Fairholme Funds vs. United States seems to illustrate otherwise. The documents were unsealed...
With inflation weakening and continuing to lag behind the Federal Reserve Open Market Committee’s 2 percent target, the Fed this week surprised no one and unanimously decided to leave the federal funds target rate unchanged at 1.00 percent to 1.25 percent. The U.S. central bank also indicated it will likely begin to gradually unload its enormous balance sheet “relatively soon,” which market participants and observers read as sometime this fall – probably with an announcement in September, with run-off set to begin in October. In terms of its portfolio, the FOMC said...
A new source of risk for residential MBS has emerged in the wake of Wells Fargo’s recent decision to hold back significant funds from MBS transactions to cover potential litigation expenses resulting from investor claims. In its latest report, Moody’s Investors Service warned that trustee holdbacks, such as Wells Fargo’s action, have a negative effect on the MBS transactions. Such actions reduce, at least temporarily, the funds available to pay interest and principal to bondholders, the rating agency said. Last month, Wells Fargo notified...
The Federal Reserve’s effort to normalize its balance sheet later this year would cause no significant falloff in the agency mortgage-backed securities market over the next six to 12 months, according to global investment firm Loomis Sayles. In an analysis, the firm concluded that agency MBS remain attractive for now with modest excess returns for agency MBS versus Treasurys. “We favor a modest overweight agency MBS stance versus Treasurys for the remainder of 2017 and ...
While policymakers in Washington, DC, are paying renewed attention to housing-finance reform, some industry representatives took advantage of the opportunity provided by a related hearing on Capitol Hill to also urge changes be made to a number of the mortgage-related rules promulgated in recent years by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Bond giant PIMCO issued a report that called for a handful of key revisions to the mortgage regulatory landscape before any reform of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is undertaken. “To bring capital back to the private mortgage market and ensure credit is extended...
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