Legg Mason Global Asset Management has launched Permal Hedge Strategies Fund a fixed income focused multi-manager, multi-strategy fund of hedge funds.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) is preparing to back away from a controversial plan to overhaul the minimum servicing fees paid on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loans, after intense, across-the-board industry opposition to the idea.

The National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) said Tuesday it disagrees with a tentative ruling by a federal judge that would dismiss its suit against RBS Securities in the failure of WesCorp Federal Credit Union.

Analytics provider Lender Processing Services (LPS) has stated that its LPS Applied Analytics division updated its home price index (LPS HPI) with residential sales concluded in November 2011.

The volume of CMBS conduit loans liquidated in January spiked sharply, jumping 51% from December's reading, according to Trepp data.

Mortgage application activity slipped 2.9% in the week ending Jan. 27 with the Refinance Index declining 3.6% to 4113.8.

To facilitate “streamline” refinancings, the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) will no longer rank lenders based on the performance of those loans in its Neighborhood Watch system.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) has announced that investors interested in its Real-Estate Owned (REO) Initiative may “pre-qualify” to establish eligibility to bid on transactions in the initial pilot phase as well as subsequent phases.

As if new capital requirements penalizing risky asset-backeds weren't enough, banks may soon have to pay higher deposit insurance assessment fees relative to the riskiness of the ABS they hold on their books. This further challenges their participation in the securitization market.

The Maiden Lane and Sequoia transactions may not herald the return of a vibrant RMBS market anytime soon, but they do indicate significant demand for bonds at nearly opposite ends of the RMBS market.

Although American Securitization Forum (ASF) conferences are usually more U.S.-centric, this year's ASF 2012 had more of a global focus.

The notion of widespread principal reduction for underwater borrowers has gained new currency since the beginning of the year. In addition to articles in the popular financial press, the Federal Reserve's recent white paper on housing devoted a section to discussing the concept of "Loan Modifications with Principal Reduction." Nonetheless, the concept of aiding middle-class homeowners through principal reduction is politically tempting, and political pressure to "do something" (evidenced by another mass refinancing plan proposed in President Obama's State of the Union address) is intensifying. However, the experience of HAMP and other initiatives suggests that a broad program to reduce the loan balances of underwater borrowers held or guaranteed by the GSEs would be extremely expensive, ultimately ineffective and potentially counterproductive.