RMBS

The backlash against the Volcker Rule has officially gone global. While U.S. banks are still up in arms about how regulators propose to implement the trading ban, the protests sound just as loud from foreign institutions and even their governments, which fear the U.S. is stepping outside its jurisdiction.

Fitch Ratings thinks that the decision Monday by the U.S. Appeals Court in Manhattan to send back the proposed $8.5 billion Countrywide Financial Corp. (CFC) RMBS settlement back to state court might facilitate its approval. Bank of America Corp. (BAC) bought CFC in an all-stock deal in 2008.

U.S. consumers are still in the process of de-leveraging, mainly by reducing their residential mortgage debt, Standard and Poor's analysts cited fourth quarter 2011 New York Federal Reserve data.

Bond insurer Ambac Financial Group is offering the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) $102 million to settle the agency’s $800 million claim against it.

Fannie Mae has hit the market with a 2,490-REO package designed for bulk investors – the first such pilot auction promised by its regulator, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA).

Redwood Trust – the nation’s only active securitizer of Jumbo MBS – posted a $3 million loss in the fourth quarter, compared to a profit of $15 million in the year ago period, but is promising to plough ahead in the PLS market.

Fannie Mae late Friday finally had something to say about Bank of America's announcement that it would no longer sell new purchase money loans to the GSE: it hopes to resolve the buyback disputes between the two parties.

Should Ally Financial break itself up, Ocwen Financial Corp. and private-equity shops might be interested in Ally's mortgaging servicing arm, Residential Capital, which has mortgage servicing rights of $1.2 billion on mostly impaired loans, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods (KBW) analysts wrote in a research note last week.

The Federal Home Loan Bank system, which has emerged as a critical CU backstop, has made a pitch to National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) that could tap the movement for tens of billions of dollars in new funds.

Last week the markets got what has been a rare reprieve so far this year, a break from any market-moving headlines.