The Federal Reserve Bank of New York announced this week that it selected three firms to participate in a pilot project to expand agency MBS sellers beyond the large primary dealers that work with the NY Fed. The pilot will last for about one year and the firms will participate as counterparties on the Open Market Trading Desk along with primary dealers in the Desk’s agency MBS operations. Brean Capital, Loop Capital Markets and Mischler Financial Group were selected to participate in the Mortgage Operations Counterparty Pilot Program, which was announced in August. The NY Fed didn’t disclose the number of firms that applied for the pilot but noted that the intent was always to work with a small number of firms to speed the pilot and keep costs low for the NY Fed. The pilot program participants are set...
The head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency told Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee members this week that a decision on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac guaranty fees will come soon after the New Year. In his first oversight hearing since taking the reins of the agency in January, FHFA Director Mel Watt stated during questioning that the regulator of the government-sponsored enterprises will make its move on g-fees during the first quarter of 2015. In one of his first acts as FHFA director, Watt postponed...
Top mortgage finance professionals and government officials gathered in New York City last week to discuss the prospects for the non-agency MBS market, and their assessments were all over the board, a sign of the uncertainty many participants have about trying to resuscitate a stagnant sector. “It’s been seven years since the financial crisis, and certainly a lot of things have changed,” said Rui Pereira, managing director at Fitch Ratings, during a panel at the non-agency MBS reform symposium sponsored by the Structured Finance Industry Group and Information Management Network. He then cited...
Banks and thrifts held a combined $1.535 trillion of residential MBS at the end of September, a modest 0.6 percent increase from the previous quarter, according to a new Inside MBS & ABS analysis of bank call reports. Bank MBS holdings had spiked higher in the first quarter of this year, only to fall back in the following period. Compared to a year ago, the industry’s aggregate MBS portfolio was up 1.4 percent. Bank and thrift MBS holdings first crossed...[Includes two data charts]
Other changes include: providing flexibility for servicers to comply with certain force-placed insurance and periodic statement disclosure requirements.
Regarding Nationstar’s financial condition, Fitch previously referenced the financial condition of Fortress Investment Group, which owns 74 percent of the nonbank lender/servicer.
Two years ago, Ross’ WL Ross & Co. sold its mortgage banking operation, Homeward Residential, to Ocwen for $750 million in cash and convertible preferred stock.
Wells Fargo is not expected to take new bids – at least anytime soon – on a highly delinquent $39 billion non-agency servicing portfolio that Ocwen Financial failed to buy because of all the regulatory scrutiny the nonbank is facing. However, servicing advisors who have seen some of the details on the portfolio contend that Wells may eventually try to unload the package next year, but is by no means under the gun to do so. “One thing you have to keep in mind is...
First-time homebuyers could benefit from mortgages with downpayment requirements as low as 3.0 percent, but high fees on such products tend to limit their originations, according to qualitative survey results from the latest Campbell/Inside Mortgage Finance HousingPulse Tracking Survey. The government-sponsored enterprises are set to roll out products that allow combined loan-to-value ratios as high as 97.0 percent, competing with the 96.5 percent combined LTV ratio limit for certain purchase mortgages guaranteed by the FHA. In recent years, the GSEs generally have allowed for combined LTV ratios as high as 95.0 percent. “Agents commonly believe...
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