RMBS

Management at Ally Financial Corp. is considering throwing part of its mortgage division into bankruptcy and then executing a sale of most of its “good” assets, investment banking sources said late Thursday.

The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) is willing to back a GSE-related refinancing bill introduced by Sen. Al Franken, D., Minn., but wants assurances that the industry will no longer be hit with buyback requests on loans that are several years old.

The great land rush to riches in the Jumbo securitization market appears to have hit a brick wall.

Mortgage rates recorded modest increases in the week ending March 15, according to Freddie Mac's survey.More specifically, 30-year fixed mortgage rates averaged 3.92% compared to 3.88% last week. Meanwhile, 15-year fixed moved up to 3.16% from 3.13%; 5/1 hybrid ARMs rose two basis points to 2.83%, while one-year ARMs "jumped" six basis points to 2.79%.Mortgage rates are likely to have moved up higher as the survey is done earlier in the week.

Portugal's Banco Santandar Totta has hopped on the buyback bandwagon, announcing a tender for its RMBS.

Moody's Investors Service has said that Australian ABS performance experienced slightly higher delinquencies across most programs.

The apartment market is recovering nicely and Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are enjoying the ride.

Yesterday the Federal Reserve stated again that it would maintain its existing policies of reinvesting principal payments from its holdings of agency debt and agency MBS in agency MBSs.

Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, and three other residential servicers agreed to pay $25 million to New York State to resolve certain monetary claims over the use of the MERS database after reaching a $25 billion national settlement on robo-signing charges.

The size of the residential loan market over the short-term will be determined by the definition of 'qualified mortgage' (QM).