Most banks are better insulated than Silicon Valley Bank from duration risk in MBS and similar holdings, according to Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell. (Includes two data charts.)

With a bank liquidity crisis taking seed, some nonbank CEOs started asking a basic question: Are our escrows safe? What about our corporate deposits? Needless to say, it’s been an interesting week.

Some banks hike their use of FHLBank advances when a run on their deposits and the inability to sell their MBS holdings cut into liquidity. This strategy doesn’t seem to work for all banks.

Less than a week after raising the “going concern” flag, the California lender announced plans to wind down its operations and liquidate.

Most Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac policies regarding loan eligibility have returned to pre-pandemic standards.

While the GSEs are under mandates to shrink their retained portfolios, Freddie’s holdings increased in the final three months of 2022. (Includes data chart.)

Appraisal reduction amounts, which measure a new appraisal’s shortfall compared to the loan’s unpaid balance, are generally considered an indicator of expected losses.

Despite a sharp decline in primary market originations, the agency MSR market continued to grow in the fourth quarter. Ginnie servicing was the fastest-growing segment. (Includes two data charts.)

Nearly all sellers recorded huge declines in agency deliveries in late 2022 as purchase-mortgage volume plummeted. Ginnie ranked as the top agency MBS issuer in the fourth quarter. (Includes two data charts.)

The relationship between waivers and prepayments began to decline in April 2021, as the refinance wave cooled.