This issue has the government all over it, not unlike the industry itself over the past few years.
From a regulator taking Ocwen to task to a National Flood Insurance Program possibly eying cat bonds, there’s no denying the persistent presence of government and we’ve got the stories to prove it.
That’s not to say the market’s sitting around and waiting. In fact, there’s plenty of activity.
In our cover story, Bonnie Sinnock from sister publication National Mortgage News shows how that big pile of toxic RMBS issued during the boom years is looking better and better. Kate Berry from American Banker reports on JP Morgan’s push into multi-family lending in New York, where it’s played second fiddle to competitors. And AB’s Kevin Wack wrote on Fenway Summer that’s launching a subprime credit card.
Also on the private-sector side of things, I did a Q&A with MeasureOne founder Dan Feshbach, who wants loan level disclosure in the student loan market to go as deep as it has in mortgages. Feshbach also founded LoanPerformance, which helped pioneered disclosure in the mortgage space. And now he’s pounding the pavement to do the same with student loans.
But in the other pages, the public sector looms large. In another piece Berry examines the move by New York regulator Benjamin Lawsky to halt a portfolio purchase by mortgage servicer Ocwen, calling into question the servicer’s aggressive growth. But the move raises a serious question if Ocwen’s not allowed to make a dent in the $1 trillion in delinquent-loan servicing expected to change hands in the next few years, can its peers absorb all that?
John Hintze reports on the recurring topic of Reg AB II. The fate of the proposed changes to this rule may remain in limbo following the SEC’s postponed vote, but that may not be a bad thing as the industry takes issue with some of the provisions.
Hintze also looks the government’s National Flood Insurance Program. As it looks for ways to offload risk, the Government Accountability Office has endorsed cat bonds as a possible solution.
Meanwhile, in an observation, Chesapeake Risk Advisors Principal Clifford Rossi tackles GSE reform, warning that Congress should avoid passing something that is politically expedient without finding the right level of government guarantee that will spur private investment while not alienating Republicans.
Finally, there’s a piece by Nora Colomer on the resilience of Emerging Markets securitizations. Russian and Turkish deals are well cushioned against foreign turbulence, and for different reasons. Nora tells us why.
