RMBS

The Obama administration has gained plaudits from even conservative critics by calling for the dismantling of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

After months of infighting, the federal banking agencies have reached an agreement on risk retention standards that would include some new rules for servicers, according to sources familiar with the matter.

The excesses in mortgage lending happened primarily in the private market in 2004 when the GSEs lost market share to banks, said Bank of America Merrill Lynch analysts on a teleconference on housing reform.

PIMCO this week launched its Select U.K. Income Bond Fund that will invest in high-quality instruments across a broad range of fixed income sectors.

Federal regulators have drafted a 'qualified residential mortgage' (QRM) rule that mandates a 20% downpayment for such loans while leaving mortgage insurance totally out of the equation — a move that could prolong the housing recession in several states and decimate the mortgage insurance industry.

The amount of putbacks that Bank of America is being challenged for has grown to $84 billion. This covers 225 securitized deals, rising from $46 billion covering 115 deals in October, according to a Bloomberg report.

Redwood Trust's recent $280 million RMBS is generally viewed as the Mill Valley, CA-headquartered firm's second attempt to jump-start the RMBS market, but doubts persist about whether it will be any more successful.

The Obama administration's white paper on housing finance reform might have been short on details on how the government plans to initiate housing finance reform.

Although the Obama administration's white paper on housing finance reform came up short on details, it reemphasized the importance of the securitization market in the future of housing finance.

The joint Treasury/HUD report to Congress released this month was a major disappointment to market participants looking for a timely resolution to the status of the GSEs and the future of housing finance. While the white paper claims to lay out "the Administration's plan to reform America's housing finance market," it unfortunately amounts to a set of poorly defined policy options that will likely require years to codify and implement. Moreover, its core assumptions are unrealistic and ultimately border on wishful thinking.