RMBS

Fannie Mae is moving closer to launching a pilot program to dispose of some of its nonperforming residential loans, according to industry advisors familiar with the GSE’s plans.

The Federal Reserve Board on Thursday unanimously approved the release of a set of proposals that would raise banks' minimum capital requirement to 7%.

Mortgage investors, who have been complaining for months about the costs they will bear under the national servicing settlement, presented a list of proposed remedies at a congressional hearing Thursday.

If enacted by U.S. regulators as currently drafted, the Simple Supervisory Formula Approach (SSFA) would require banks to give capital risk weightings to securitizations that are sharply higher than those assessed under the longstanding ratings-based approach, according to a presentation by Brian P. Lancaster, co-head of structured transactions at RBS, and John Jordan, from the bank’s financial institutions division.

The May prepayment report was all about HARP, as was expected; however, speeds on seasoned 5.0%s on through 6.5% were faster than anticipated. Meanwhile, lower coupons were mostly slower than projected.

Moody’s Investors Service said that Spain, Greece and the U.K. are the European countries most vulnerable to a precipitous drop in housing prices from an economic shock, according to a report released Thursday on the agency’s methodology for stressing house prices linked to its RMBS transactions.

The differential in pricing between Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac MBS has widened over the past year despite a high level of refinancings and issuance. But concerns are growing that investors’ preference for Fannie mortgage-backed securities could increase even more as refinancings decline later this year, according to officials at the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA). Both GSEs are wards of the federal government.

The nation’s mega servicers are increasing their use of principal reductions in modifying loans as they fulfill obligations under the $25 billion robo-signing settlement with the state attorneys general and federal agencies, according to new figures released by the Treasury Department.

Despite intense volatility buffeting the Eurozone in recent months, Bank of America Merrill Lynch sees long-term strengths in the region’s structured finance space.

Milestone Merchant Partners is circulating an offering book on $30.8 billion of mortgage servicing rights that once belonged to now-defunct Taylor, Bean & Whitaker, Ocala, Fla.