This year, the commercial MBS market will see the influence of the newly effective Securities and Exchange Commission rule on CMBS risk retention, which likely will mean higher credit quality but also a degree of unpredictability when it comes to issuance, according to industry analysts. At Wells Fargo Securities, analysts who cover the CMBS space are forecasting non-agency issuance of $65.0 billion in 2017. “While CMBS issuance has historically grown with the economy, this is not exactly the typical cycle,” they said in a recent client note. “Economic growth has been uneven and property fundamentals seem to be maturing.” Requiring CMBS issuers to retain at least 5 percent of the credit risk adds...

Higher capital charges and the cost of capital associated with risk retention mandated by the Dodd-Frank Act will make commercial MBS less competitive with portfolio lending for loans backed by high-quality collateral, according to a new report from Moody’s Investors Service. The report stems from a Moody’s fourth-quarter 2016 analysis of three conduit transactions that were structured to comply with risk-retention prior to its implementation on Dec. 24, 2016. In each of the transactions, issuers retained 5 percent of either the securities or the collateral pool’s cash flows. In addition, the Moody’s report noted...

Should the CFPB fail to convince the court for a rehearing, or win a rehearing but lose the argument at that point, it would unlikely be able to receive the authorization needed from the Trump administration’s Office of Attorney General to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Maybe the CFPB should hire some loan officers who have actually closed a mortgage...

According to the Mayer Brown law firm, “Financial services companies that hoped for immediate regulatory relief when the Trump administration assumed control may have to wait a bit longer…”

To be sure, individual lenders were all over the map in their reported production trends. A handful of top producers reported significant increases from the third quarter, including loanDepot, which was up 13.4 percent…

Jefferies issued two similar rated warehouse-funding securitizations in 2016, totaling $435 million.

The Citadel CEO noted that his shop is receiving many unsolicited resumes from mortgage workers employed at conventional shops, a sign that some firms are about to cut staff.

Total revenues at Clayton, its mortgage and real estate services division, increased by 10 percent to $52.6 million.

According to one media report, two men were shot execution-style inside a mortgage business on Staten Island Tuesday night...