Finance

After popping up eight basis points last week after holding at a record low 3.87% for three weeks, 30-year fixed mortgage rates declined five basis points to 3.90% for the week ending March 1, according to Freddie Mac's survey.

There's more than one kind of CLO revival underway. Issuance of CLOs in the quasi-public 144A market has picked up dramatically since the financial crisis, thanks to the strong performance of existing vehicles. But, market observers say there has also been a pick-up in issuance of CLOs that are truly private, which have proprietary structures and only a handful of participants.

Banks are applying a well-honed strategy to mitigate regulators' recent proposal to determine capital requirements for assets that include securitizations.

With the Dodd-Frank Act giving the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) regulatory oversight over private student loans, issuers in the asset class must now work closely with the agency as it formulates rules to govern the sector.

The state attorneys general announced last month that they finally reached a settlement with the five largest servicers over improper foreclosure and servicing practices.

In recent Senate comments, Federal Reserve Governor Elizabeth A. Duke said that "the failure of the housing market to respond to lower interest rates as vigorously as it has in the past indicates that factors other than financial conditions may be restraining improvement in mortgage credit and housing market conditions." She is absolutely correct. Aside from the overhang of problem loans, housing remains weak because dislocations in the primary mortgage market have limited the availability of mortgage funds. Unless mortgage lending moves to a stronger footing and can better serve the broad housing market, home prices will remain under pressure.

With the housing market apparently showing long awaited signs of stability, it's not hard to understand why a program allowing investors to purchase the government's stock of real-estate-owned (REO) homes in bulk and rent them out is generating so much buzz.

As securitization players seek out new collateral, their relationship with the government has lurched between friend and foe.

The first two months of the year saw a handful of European originators launch tenders to buy back their structured finance bonds.

Two major themes that have been dominating the MBS market so far in 2012 are the third round of quantitative easing, or QE3, and refinancing activity associated with the changes to the Home Affordable Refinancing Program, dubbed HARP 2.0.

Bond insurer MBIA reported experiencing losses in the fourth quarter of 2011.

Bond insurer Assured Guaranty reported a net loss per share despite mostly positive results for the fourth quarter of 2011.

The Obama administration's plan to refinance underwater borrowers with private-label mortgages was supposed to be dead on arrival – but it appears Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama, the ranking Republican on the Banking Committee, wants to hear more.

SLM Corp., more popularly known as Sallie Mae, is going to issue a transaction under its SLM Student Loan Trust 2012-2.

Fannie Mae, in a new Securities and Exchange Commission filing, said that in late January it cut off Bank of America from selling most types of loans to the GSE because of “delays” by the lender in making good on outstanding buyback requests.

Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke told Congress on Wednesday that U.S. regulators are unlikely to make the July 21 deadline to finalize the Volcker Rule.

CMBS special servicers have increased their activity over the past two months with roughly $3.7 billion in newly-modified loans, according to an FTN Financial report.

Moody’s Investors Service in a report Wednesday said that the high jobless rate will keep the default rate among private, non-guaranteed student loans at their presently steep levels through 2012. For the collateral backing ABS deals in the agency’s index, the default figure was 5.1% in Q4, about flat from the 5.0% posted in 2010. That is more than double the pre-recession rate.

Mortgage application activity was essentially flat in the week ending Feb. 24 as an increase in purchase activity was offset by a slight decline in refinancing activity.The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) reported the Purchase Index jumped 8.2% to 175.The Refinance Index declined 2.2% to ~4225 with the share of refinancing applications as a percent of total applications falling to 77.9% from 80.1%. This is the lowest share since the beginning of December 2011.

JPMorgan Chase told a federal court in Wichita, Kan., that it should reject National Credit Union Administration 's (NCUA) claims regarding $1.4 billion of MBS sold to four failed corporate credit unions and dismiss the suit without even allowing for discovery.