RMBS

After months of silence, the Obama administration is close to spilling the best-kept secret in town: what it wants to do with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

While there are likely to be more settlements between the GSEs and mortgage lenders, a report from Keefe, Bruyette & Woods (KBW) said the price of a settlement "might be too high for some originators who believe that their underwriting standards were strong."

As the economy brightens and capital issues resolve, one question is whether banks will now step out of the shadow of the so-called shadow banking system.

Eversheds has appointed structured finance and derivatives lawyer Kingsley Ong as partner in its Hong Kong banking and finance team.

The five largest servicers of residential mortgages — including Bank of America and Wells Fargo — may be the first to settle with 50 state attorneys general who are investigating foreclosure practices, according to combined press reports.

It is now clear that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are willing to make peace with banks by settling mortgage repurchase claims for some cash.

Janney Capital Markets named Noam Saxonhouse as director in real estate investment banking.

The multifamily REIT sector is now in a period of sustained improvement in terms of its fundamentals, said Moody's Investors Service in a new report released today.

The housing overhang, according to Amherst Securities Group (ASG) analysts in a report released today, is not only caused by the number of nonperforming loans currently in the market.

November was the best month of 2010 so far for the nation's private mortgage insurers in terms of new insurance written (NIW), while it was the second best for new applications.