RMBS

Bank of America Corp.’s agreement to pay Assured Guaranty $1.1 billion in mortgage put-backs sent bond insurer share prices up more than 20% on Friday.

As REITs emerge as a key source of agency MBS demand and become the marginal buyers for mortgage-backeds, spreads are still range-bound even though there is the news that the Treasury is unwinding its MBS portfolio, according to Bank of America Merill Lynch analysts in a report released today.

The mortgage insurance industry hopes that banking regulators recognize the value of their product when finalizing their ‘qualified residential mortgage’ (QRM) test — but so far their pleas have fallen on deaf years.

Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, and Rep. Brad Miller, D-N.C., late this week introduced a comprehensive bill that would force mortgage servicers to act in the best interests of investors while pressuring them to engage in loan modifications.

Bank of America Corp. sent Assured Guaranty $850 million in cash Thursday as part of a $1.1 billion settlement on mortgage-related securities announced Friday. The out-of-court settlement is the biggest to date among municipal bond insurers.

Bank of America funded $58.4 billion of home mortgages in the first quarter, a 33% decline compared to the fourth quarter, and a further sign that the megabank — like many others — is suffering from a weak home buying market.

As the megabanks continue to write down the value of their residential servicing portfolios, now may be the best time ever to buy housing receivables, according to a new report from Mortgage Industry Advisory Corp. (MIAC), New York.

Acting Comptroller of the Currency John Walsh defended bank regulators Thursday for moving forward with an enforcement action against the top 14 mortgage servicers even while several of those banks continue to negotiate with state attorneys general and other federal agencies.

The Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA) reacted to the House Financial Services Committee hearing titled Understanding the Implications and Consequences of the Proposed Rule on Risk Retention.

The banking consent agreements signed by some of the nation's largest residential servicers on Wednesday require the firms to stop the practice of "dual tracking" where at risk homeowners start the loan modification process but also are officially put into a parallel foreclosure pipeline.