RMBS

There is a reasonable chance that the incoming Congress will finally attempt to tackle the contentious issue of GSE reform. However, radical changes to the GSEs (with some discussion of eliminating them entirely) have the potential to seriously disrupt the mortgage and housing markets. Despite their depleted financial condition, they remain entrenched in housing finance, as more than two-thirds of MBS are being issued through Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

The commercial real estate (CRE) market, and CMBS as a component of this sector, has not been immune from the problems brought on by the financial crisis.

The European securitization market saw the return of regular new issuance with approximately €75 billion ($98.2 billion) distributed to end investors year-to-date. However, the uptick in primary volumes is still dwarfed by the retained securitizations that remain on issuers balance sheets.

ABS market players have certainly learned their lesson from the problems that led to the financial crisis.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) put on hold one change that could have shuttered the ABS market starting in early January. But a long line of proposals marching into 2011 will keep ABS compliance departments busy and, in some cases, may fundamentally alter the market.

Many segments of U.S. structured finance were forced to play defense to varying degrees during the last few years in light of this past economic recession. Much of 2010 was viewed as a year of 'lessons learned'. But now with the economic recovery slowly underway, we may finally begin to see U.S. structured finance turn the corner towards stability in 2011. Fitch's Rating Outlook for U.S. structured finance is Stable.

The landscape for non-agency RMBS has dramatically changed and, given the variables that banks must contemplate, it is unlikely that 2011 will see the clarity needed to drive origination volumes in the non-agency space.

For the first time since significant mortgage servicing problems came to light, federal regulators called on Congress Wednesday to establish national standards for the foreclosure process.

HeartLand Financial USA, Dubuque, Iowa, has hired a former Bear Stearns Residential Mortgage (BSRM) executive and his team from a failed Arizona thrift to lead what it hopes will be a growing mortgage operation.

Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) chairman Sheila Bair is calling on Treasury officials to streamline the loan modification process and require writedowns of second mortgages.