RMBS

Lawmakers pressed Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke on Wednesday about whether regulators have the legal authority to include servicing standards within a risk-retention rule.

Ally Financial said late Wednesday that the U.S. Treasury will be repaid $2.7 billion from the sale of all the Trust Preferred Securities that the agency holds in the bank holding company and mortgage lender.

Fixed related mortgage rates declined for the third straight week, according to Freddie Mac's weekly survey.

Credit-Based Asset Servicing and Securitization (C-BASS) founders Bruce Williams and Saul Sanders are talking to mortgage banker New Penn Financial in Plymouth Meeting, Pa., about buying the company, according to three sources familiar with the deal.

MBIA still expects to pay more claims as the credit quality of the debt it insures erodes.

The Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) has helped more than 500,000 struggling borrowers with a median annual income of $46,000 remain in their homes, according to the Treasury Department, which found itself defending the program this week.

Mortgage application activity declined 6.5% in the week ending Feb. 25 with both refinancing and purchase activity lower — despite a decline in mortgage rates.

Redwood Trust on Tuesday closed its second Jumbo MBS deal within 10 months, boasting that the economics on the transaction support private-sector financing of prime mortgages at rates within 0.5% of Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac instruments.

Banking regulators took a critical step forward on Tuesday to establishing national mortgage servicing standards by cutting a deal to include some new rules as part of a related risk retention proposal.

Goldman Sachs said in regulatory paperwork filed on Monday that it could lose about $3.43 billion as a result of judicial, regulatory and arbitration proceedings launched against the firm over the last decade.