In particular, Watt expressed his concerns about January 1, 2018 when Fannie and Freddie – as promulgated by the U.S. Treasury – are forced to have a capital “buffer” of zero dollars.
RPM Mortgage has acquisitions on its mind once again and could be an aggressive buyer of other lending shops this year, according to industry advisors – if only falling interest rates didn’t get in the company’s way. It was originally thought that 2016 could be a robust year for mortgage mergers-and-acquisitions activity, but tumbling interest rates are making some owners think twice about selling – or getting picky about what they’re willing to take. For buyers, the best time to pounce is...
The tone for banks likely was set by JPMorgan Chairman and Chief Executive Jamie Dimon, who in 2014 warned that without a safe harbor, his bank would be very cautious about FA lending going forward…
A long-expected correction in MBS prices was put on hold this week as interest rates took another dive and concerns continued to mount about China’s stagnant economy and weakening oil prices. As Inside MBS & ABS went to press late this week, the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury was at 1.61 percent, the lowest it’s been in roughly four years. The volatility in the market was sparking...
Officials at American Capital Agency announced last week that the real estate investment trust formed a wholly-owned broker-dealer subsidiary. The broker-dealer will help provide the REIT with repo funding and to-be-announced MBS trade-clearing capabilities. Peter Federico, a senior vice president and chief risk officer at American Capital, said the REIT started forming the broker-dealer about six months ago. He said the entity is fully staffed and is in the regulatory application process, with operations expected to begin midyear. “Once our broker-dealer is up and running, we will pursue...
Investors in the secondary market are continuing to shy away from mortgages with so-called TRID errors – even minor ones – taking the advice of legal counsel and due diligence providers who are telling them to stay clear because of assignee liability issues. Late last week, senior executives from the Structured Finance Industry Group traveled to Washington to meet CFPB Director Richard Cordray, but one official familiar with the get-together said the regulator conveyed a message of “Thanks for coming in, but we don’t think there’s a problem.” For now, most of the concern about a stalled secondary market has focused...
Panelists speaking at a seminar on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac credit-risk transfers this week agreed that the program, while successful, could use some fine-tuning such as creating a deeper mortgage-insurance version and broader participation by real estate investment trusts. While REITS are active in credit risk transfers, their participation is small when compared to their role in non-agency MBS, said experts at the seminar sponsored by the Urban Institute and CoreLogic. Bill Roth, chief investment officer of Two Harbors, noted that REITs have purchased or retained the subordinate tranches in at least 60 percent of the non-agency MBS issued over the past three years, but just 2 percent of CRT deals issued by the government-sponsored enterprises as of July 2015. “REITs would love...
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