RMBS

Freddie Mac began purchasing Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP) 2.0 loans in January and by the end of the first quarter had acquired $5 billion of these refinances, according to the company’s first-quarter securities filing.

Independent third-party review firm Allonhill hired Maria Sedlack as director of investor relations management.

The debate on “principal forgiveness” goes on. Policymakers from Treasury secretary Timothy Geithner to numerous members of Congress are urging lenders and mortgage servicers to reduce loan balances to help homeowners remain in their houses and prevent additional foreclosures, given the fact that 12 million homeowners are “underwater” on their mortgages and in danger of defaulting.Even Christine Lagarde, the head of the International Monetary Fund, has called on the U.S. government to reduce mortgage debt “as a way to help revive that nation’s economy and stimulate growth in the wider industrialized world.”

Freddie Mac reported new record lows set on 30- and 15-year fixed mortgage rates as well as on one-year ARM rates for the week ending May 3.

Bond insurer Ambac Assurance Corp. on Monday requested to withdraw from a legal case for an $8.5 billion settlement with Bank of America concerning MBS.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) late Tuesday revealed that it gave Fannie Mae the green light to conduct a pilot program with Wells Fargo in March 2010 to test principal reduction modifications.

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Shaun Donovan will testify before Congress next Tuesday regarding efforts to allow more Americans to refinance their mortgages.

Moody's Investors Service has placed GMAC-RFC's servicer quality rating on review for possible downgrade.

Freddie Mac executive Anthony Renzi has accepted a senior mortgage job with Citigroup, after weighing a position with Wilbur Ross’ fast-growing mortgage empire, according to industry sources.ASR sister publication National Mortgage News (NMN) tweeted about Renzi’s job offers on its Web site early Monday afternoon.

Gleacher & Co. Securities, a broker-dealer subsidiary of Gleacher & Co., has hired Perrin Arturi and Donald Ullmann as executive managing directors who will co-head the firm's MBS/ABS and rates division.