Finance

The American Securitization Forum (ASF) expressed its support for the portion of the Dodd-Frank Act that addressed conflicts of interest in securitization in a letter to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) today.

Freddie Mac reported a two-basis-point increase from record low levels in fixed-rate mortgages, while adjustable rate mortgage rates moved to new record lows. This was the first increase in five weeks.

Regulators took their first step this week toward drafting new rules that would require lenders to retain some risk before selling loans into the secondary market.

Industry veteran Tom Wind, who has headed such mortgage powerhouses as Chase Home Finance and Aurora Loan Services (ALS), has been named managing director of J.I. Kislak Mortgage, Miami Lakes, Fla.

The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System issued a report yesterday on the potential effect of credit risk retention requirements on securitization.

The Brazilian Finance Ministry’s recent hike of the IOF tax on foreign investment into fixed income investments to 6% from 4% is bound to have some kind of impact on the appetite of overseas money for local securitization products. The increase comes after a 2 percentage point hike earlier this month.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) started a review of several Federal Housing Administration (FHA) mortgage servicers during the summer, discovering what it calls "significant differences" in the way they handle defaulted borrowers in the loss mitigation process.

Issuer panelists at today's gathering called Covered Bonds — The Americas said that the sector has provided them with a good source of funding diversity.

Mortgage application activity declined in the week ending Oct. 15 as mortgage rates backed up, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association's (MBA) weekly report.

The housing crisis may now get as personal for bank executives as it has for individual homeowners.

The Federal Reserve Board issued a proposal Tuesday that would amend certain portions of its rules implementing the Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure Act of 2009.

Bank of America late Tuesday said it is "not responsible" for the "poor" performance of mortgages "as a result of a bad economy," and defended its role as a servicer on billions of dollars in outstanding home loans.

Avis Budget Car Rental is marketing 144A ABS backed by rental fleet vehicles. There are two deals — Avis Budget Rental Car Funding (AESOP), Series 2010-4 and 2010-5, according to a Moody's Investors Service presale report.

The £3.4 billion ($5.33 billion) U.K. prime RMBS master trust issue called Arkle 2010-2 was absorbed by the market quite quickly, with fairly little marketing.

The Financial Accounting Standards Board’s (FASB) proposal that would mandate fair value accounting treatment for most banks is not finding any supporters in the institutional investor space, a new study claims.

Existing home sales fell 6.4% in September from the previous month, but October could turn out to be a good month, according to RE/MAX, the national realty company.

On Monday, bondholders of over 25% of the voting rights in more than $47 billion of Countrywide Financiall-issued RMBS sent a notice of non-performance to Countrywide Home Loan identifying specific covenants in 115 pooling and servicing agreements (PSAs) that the holders allege countrywide servicing has failed to perform.

Moody’s Investors Service said the proposed rehabilitation plan to deal with Ambac Assurance Corp.’s segregated account of high-risk insured assets is a credit positive and, if confirmed by the courts, will put the Wisconsin-domiciled bond insurer “one step closer to an orderly run-off.”

Over the next few weeks, the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) will send review teams into several FHA servicing shops to see how they are handling foreclosures, ASR sister publication National Mortgage News (NMN) has learned.

The European Central Bank (ECB) made changes to the language in its guidelines on monetary policy instruments and procedures last week.