RMBS

While it's clear that tighter rules for securitization are on their way, varying approaches to the issue by different agencies are making bankers and issuers uneasy.

The Federal Reserve announced in August that the central bank would be purchasing Treasurys by using the proceeds from maturing MBS to support the country's economic recovery.

While the Wall Street reform bill passed this summer did not directly address the GSEs, it nonetheless affected future prospects for restructuring Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. As I wrote last month, the bill created a series of impediments to any timely revival of the private-label MBS market, making the housing markets highly dependent on agency-backed funding. As a result, GSE reform will be limited by the need to avoid short-term disruptions that would freeze financing for the housing markets.

The Lehman Brothers bankruptcy has proved to have long-reaching repercussions for the European ABS market.

The risk of non-calls in European RMBS was reignited last month when Portuguese bank Caixa Economica Montepio Geral said it would not exercise the scheduled call for its Pelican 2 RMBS.

Mortgage applications continued to increase, but at a slower pace even as mortgage rates set new record lows.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued a report Tuesday cautioning credit rating agencies about deceptive ratings conduct.

Kurtzman Carson Consultants (KCC), an El Segundo, Calif.-based provider of bankruptcy administrative services, added a director of corporate restructuring services, the firm announced Tuesday.

There is nothing new about Freddie Mac's "new streamlined, easy refinance" program announced in August, Barclays Capital analysts said in a report released today.

Home prices rose 4.4% in the second quarter on a sequential basis, erasing a 2.8% decline in the first quarter, according to the Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller house price index released Tuesday morning.