RMBS

Although the Federal Reserve Bank of New York has maintained throughout the auction of its Maiden Lane II portfolio that it is happy with the sales, the pricing dynamics in the market today might have been enough to make the government rethink its strategy, at least for the short term.

Future losses at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will be driven not by their operating results, but by the fact that they must continue to pay the U.S. Treasury hefty dividends on the preferred stock the government owns in the two, according to a new report from Keefe, Bruyette & Woods.

Republican lawmakers have drafted a proposal that would raise the minimum downpayment on Federal Housing Administration (FHA) loans to 5% and drastically scale back the size of the federal mortgage insurance program, according to trade group officials familiar with the effort.

Principia Partners appointed Jason Foundakos as sales and business development executive based in New York.

RBS Securities hired Perrin Arturi as a managing director on its agency passthough trading desk.

Regulators' mortgage servicing consent orders require big banks to conduct a thorough review of their foreclosures. On Friday they were told what "thorough" means.

Bank of America Corp. is shedding its remaining interest in asset manager BlackRock for $2.55 billion.

Ocwen Financial is one of at least three investors that were invited in by Goldman Sachs to make a final round of bids on Litton Loan Servicing, the Wall Street firm’s specialty servicing division, according to investment bankers and others close to the situation.

The U.S. government and a group of private investors plan to spin off the subprime lending and servicing division of American International Group (AIG), by selling $500 million worth of stock to the public – through a REIT structure.

Pending mortgage-related regulations threaten to become a "tsunami" of burdens that could unintentionally harm an already fragile mortgage industry, Acting Comptroller of the Currency John Walsh said Thursday.