PennyMac is showing that it's hungry for mortgage servicing deals.

According to Alice Alvey of Indecomm Mortgage U, “many shops are reassessing originator comp plans for January 2014 to adjust to the changing margins and seize the opportunity to blame it on the change in the law."

The risk-retention rule re-proposed by federal regulators in September needs significant adjustments, according to issuers of collateralized loan obligations and asset-backed commercial paper. Investors are largely happy with the re-proposed rule, and issuers concede that the re-proposed rule significantly improved on the rule initially proposed by federal regulators in 2011. The Dodd-Frank Act requires federal regulators to establish risk-retention requirements for certain securities that don’t meet qualifying standards. Issuers of such securities will generally be required to retain at least 5.0 percent of the risk from such issuance. “We remain concerned...

There was no surprise about why. Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae securitized a total of $41.71 billion of refinance loans in October, down 22 percent from the previous month.

Glenn Costello, a senior managing director at KBRA, said the securitization of non-QM loans will require additional credit enhancement relative to QMs.

If a residential loan officer isn't doing at least six units per month, should he (or she) be fired?

The bipartisan Senate blueprint for secondary mortgage market reform includes several key provisions designed to facilitate small-lender access when Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are no longer around.

The mortgage slowdown will separate the men from the boys, the girls from the ladies. It's time to fire all underperforming loan officers, says mortgage consultant David Lykken.

Look who has a bigger piece of the mortgage servicing pie: nonbanks that do not fall under the purview of the Fed, FDIC and other regulatory agencies.

bivey@imfpubs.com Walter Investment Management is the latest servicer to transition to a “capital lite” business model, announcing the formation of a REIT to hold mortgage servicing rights. Walter said the new Walter Capital Opportunity unit will acquire certain MSRs while Walter Investment Management subservices the loans. Rival special servicers Nationstar Mortgage and Ocwen Financial have already created or partnered with similar affiliated MSR investors and Two Harbors Investment, a REIT, announced a like-minded agreement with PHH this…