RMBS

Standard & Poor's stated that the U.S. Treasury's support of the two GSEs impacted its choice to revise the outlook on the U.S. long-term sovereign credit rating to negative from stable.

Legacy private-label RMBS market participants should take note: junior bondholders in certain vintages of low-rated nonagency RMBS have, in some cases, ended up with a payoff due to slow liquidation timelines, and a “rare” servicing transfer risk has surfaced, according to two recent rating agency reports.

If Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are going to be prohibited from purchasing mortgages tied to properties with private transfer fees (PTFs), then the GSEs should create a database of these "hidden fees" fees to better protect lenders and consumers, according to the Consumer Mortgage Coalition (CMC).

To many in the industry, federal regulators just gave Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems (MERS) a big stamp of approval.

The new standard mortgage disclosure formfor borrowers will be tested starting next month, according to a report in the Wall St. Journal.

Fitch Ratings said that the securitization industry supports its plan to implement a more forward-looking, and countercyclical RMBS modeling framework. The model is based on projected home price movements where credit enhancement rises as risk enters the system and dips when the risk is neutralizing.

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.