Finance

At yesterday's American Securitization Forum Sunset Seminar on the future of mortgage finance, panelists warned that if GSEs are withdrawn at this time, the housing market will continue its downward spiral.

Mortgage late payments rose in the first quarter to an overall national rate of 8.32%, although the 90-plus day rate and the number of foreclosures started declined, according to new figures compiled by the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA).

The National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) Board this morning proposed a plan that would allow credit unions to prepay their annual assessments for the corporate credit union bailout, which they project will amount to $2.94 billion, or 38 basis points, for this year and next.

The market for CMBS has staged a comeback this year, and now it appears that there is some interest in restarting the market for CDOs backed by commercial real estate (CRE) as well.

For the week ending May 19, 30-year fixed rates averaged 4.61% with an average 0.7 point, down two basis points from last week. This brings the no-point rate at just below 4.80%.

Pricing on a CLO managed by Symphony Asset Management has been set by Morgan Stanley, according to sources.

The issue of premium capture continues to cause perhaps the most concern in the securities market when it comes to the developing risk retention requirements for securitized product.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's (CFPB) prototypes for a single mortgage disclosure form won praise from industry groups Wednesday for their streamlined format, as well as the unorthodox way they are being developed.

The top regulator of the Federal Housing Finance Agency said Wednesday he won't rush the 12-bank cooperative to correct their balance sheets, but does expect some alteration soon.

Sales of moth-balled, private-label MBS by the Federal Reserve had little impact on market prices, according to the minutes of the Fed's monetary policy committee.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) voted unanimously to propose new rules and amendments for increasing credit rating transparency and improving their integrity.

Higher Education Loan Authority of the State of Missouri (MOHELA) is in the market with its SLABS series 2011-1 worth $579 million. Fitch Ratings has assigned provisional ratings of 'AAA' to the student loan deal.

Two Harbors Investment Corp. said it is closing on a warehouse facility in partnership with Barclays Bank to aggregate loans for issuance into new Jumbo RMBS, making it the second REIT in this space since the downturn.

Refinancing activity responded to a further decline in mortgage rates, said the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA). The Refinance Index jumping 13.2% to ~2568 in the week ending May 13.

As home prices fall again and regulatory reforms take hold, long-simmering tensions between mortgage lenders and appraisers are flaring up anew.

CoreLogic said one of the main reasons why the real estate industry and finance markets continue to have problems is negative equity for a borrower.

Citibank (Dakota) N.A. wants to buy $4.84 billion worth of the Class A notes issued by the Citibank Credit Card Issuance Trust (CCCIT).

KeyBanc Capital Markets' (KBCM) recently hired Joseph McHale as managing director to its MBS sales and trading group, as reported on May 12 by StructuredFinanceNews.com (see link).

Any hope of a housing market recovery next year may be dashed, if state attorneys general and the major mortgage servicers can't reach a settlement by August, according to economists at Wells Fargo.

After making several securitization hires and underscoring the expansion of its securitized products origination (SPO) group, Barclays Capital has hired Jonathan Wu from JPMorgan Securities. Please see link for details of Barclays' previous hires.