RMBS

Morgan Stanley Thursday afternoon agreed to pay $102 million to Massachusetts homeowners and the state, settling allegations that it aided and abetted subprime lender New Century Financial Corp. in taking advantage of consumers.

Standard & Poor's has announced the categories of debt instruments which ratings will have a structured finance identifier.

An amendment by Rep. Scott Garrett, R- N.J. creating a new legal and regulatory framework for U.S. covered bonds was taken out from the financial reform bill that was agreed upon early this morning.

Mortgage bankers will be allowed to securitize Federal Housing Administration (FHA) and U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) guaranteed loans without a risk retention requirement and certain GSE loans will be exempt as well, according to final provisions of the regulatory reform bill worked out late Thursday night.

After a marathon final day of debate, the regulatory reform process ended in the early hours of Friday in the same dramatic manner it had been conducted for more than a year: with a near breakdown followed eventually by a miraculous save.

BlackBox Logic revealed contracts with several new clients who will use the firm's loan-level data aggregation service called BBx Data(TM), for their RMBS research and forecasting needs.

Covered bond issuance has been strong over the past five trading days on the back of banks looking to take advantage of the final days of the European Central Bank's (ECB) purchase program. The program ends in the middle of next week.

Fannie Mae has made policy changes that will penalize borrowers opting to strategically default. The changes are designed to encourage borrowers to work with their servicers and pursue alternatives to foreclosure.

Independent broker-dealer Braver Stern Securities hired investment strategist Scott Buchta as a managing director and the head of investment strategy.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) charged Thomas Priore and three of his affiliated firms with fraudulently managing MBS as the housing market was starting to crash in 2007.