RMBS

UBS is reportedly closing its U.S. ABS business, according to a Dow Jones report that quoted an advance copy of a Thursday edition of Swiss weekly Handelszeitung.

A bipartisan group of senators, Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), Kay Hagan (D-NC), and Charles Schumer (D-NY), today sponsored new legislation that would set up a covered bond framework in the U.S.

County and state officials are turning up the heat on MERS, as recent lawsuits filed in Florida, Delaware and Texas challenge the validity and accuracy of the mortgage industry-controlled loan registry.

Ginnie Mae reported a $1.2 billion profit from its secondary market operations in fiscal year 2011 — up 84% from FY 2010 — due to lower loss provisioning.

MarketAxess, a U.S. and European fixed-income electronic trading platform, has made an initial foray into U.S. nonagency residential and commercial mortgage-backed securities markets that appears to be drawing some interest.

Bill Twombly has joined the Risk Management Group (RMG) team as the managing director of RMG’s due diligence practice. He replaces Dante Jackson who has moved on to pursue other opportunities.

Ally Financial is actively considering putting its ailing Residential Capital Corp. (ResCap) mortgage lending unit into bankruptcy, according to a report from Dow Jones.

Not surprisingly, mortgage application activity rose 10.3% in the week ending Nov. 4.

There has been significant investor and Street apathy toward the non-agency market, FTN Financial analysts said in a report released this afternoon.

The annual fight over whether to allow the government to back higher-priced mortgages is shaping up to be a key proxy in a larger ideological war over housing finance reform.