Credit-default swaps on Bank of America, the nation's largest residential servicer, this week surged to the highest level since April 2009 before paring those gains.

The debate about the viability of the super-senior structure in the current environment experiences a resurgence, Fitch Ratings said today.

Wells Fargo analysts recommended FFELP and private student loan-backed ABS as nonbenchmark asset classes that provide investors with good relative value opportunities.

Deutsche Bank has been chosen to sell Aurora Loan Services (ALS), the Colorado-based mortgage banking division of Aurora Bank, according to industry officials.

Home Loan Servicing Solutions (HLSS), a newly formed Cayman Island corporation controlled by Ocwen CEO Bill Erby, plans to sell 18.3 million shares in its IPO, raising $316.3 million from investors.

Moody's Investors Service has withdrawn its preliminary ratings on Domino's Pizza whole business securitization called Domino’s Pizza Master Issuer LLC Series 2011-1.

If there was ever any doubt that the mortgage market is in the midst of a restructuring, consider this: roughly $260 billion of mortgage servicing rights (MSRs) are currently up for grabs.

Early Friday morning the mortgage banking industry had yet to learn who exactly bought Bank of America's $73 billion mortgage servicing portfolio with the bank declining to provide much in the way of details.

An Obama Administration official and a Seattle attorney squared off at the American Association of Residential Mortgage Regulators annual meeting in San Francisco, with one claiming that "dual track" servicing has all but ended but the other saying that's not the case, at least not in the Puget Sound area.

The likelihood of the bond insurers regaining their 'AAA' status when the U.S. does not hold that title anymore is very slim.

Federal Home Loan Bank System (FHLBs) are seeking an exemption from pending risk retention rules so they can continue to provide risk-sharing mortgage programs that they claim have exhibited "superior credit performance" for more than a decade.

-----Original Message-----From: Siegel, GarySent: Thu 8/11/2011 11:07 AMTo: Sibayan, KarenSubject: RE: Rep. Waters Seeks SEC Probe, House Panel Hearings on S&P DowngradeThursday, August 11, 2011By Lynn Hume WASHINGTON - Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., has asked the Securities and Exchange Commission to investigate whether Standard & Poor's disclosed its downgrade of U.S. debt to certain financial institutions before it made the information public.In a two-page letter dated Wednesday to SEC chairwoman Mary Schapiro, Waters said: "Given the historic nature of S&P's downgrade, and the tremendous market volatility experienced after that downgrade, I feel it is appropriate for the commission to conduct an investigation."She said the SEC should probe whether any institutions traded on the basis on nonpublic information about the downgrade.Waters also sent House Financial Services Committee chairman Spencer Bachus, R-Ala., a two-page letter asking that the committee conduct a hearing or a series of hearings on "the extent to which [Standard & Poor's] downgrade was based on an objective analysis of U.S. debt dynamics versus subjective political analysis," among other things.The committee also should examine: the impact of the rating agency's using an incorrect Congressional Budget Office assumption in deciding to downgrade U.S. debt; the extent to which Standard & Poor's and its parent, McGraw-Hill Cos., have firewalls to insulate their lobbying and rating activities; as well as the implications of the rating agency's action and its historical performance, she said.In line with her request to the SEC, she asked that the committee examine whether SEC disclosed its downgrade to certain financial institutions before making it public.Waters is the ranking minority member of the House Financial Services Committee's capital markets subcommittee.Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., has asked the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to investigate whether Standard & Poor's disclosed its downgrade of U.S. debt to certain financial institutions before it made the information public.In a two-page letter dated Wednesday to SEC chairwoman Mary Schapiro, Waters said: "Given the historic nature of S&P's downgrade, and the tremendous market volatility experienced after that downgrade, I feel it is appropriate for the commission to conduct an investigation."She said the SEC should probe whether any institutions traded on the basis on nonpublic information about the downgrade.Waters also sent House Financial Services Committee chairman Spencer Bachus, R-Ala., a two-page letter asking that the committee conduct a hearing or a series of hearings on "the extent to which S&P downgrade was based on an objective analysis of U.S. debt dynamics versus subjective political analysis," among other things.The committee also should examine: the impact of the rating agency's using an incorrect Congressional Budget Office assumption in deciding to downgrade U.S. debt; the extent to which S&P and its parent, McGraw-Hill Cos., have firewalls to insulate their lobbying and rating activities; as well as the implications of the rating agency's action and its historical performance, she said.In line with her request to the SEC, she asked that the committee examine whether SEC disclosed its downgrade to certain financial institutions before making it public.Waters is the ranking minority member of the House Financial Services Committee's capital markets subcommittee.