ABS

Once considered the biggest winner under the Obama administration's regulatory revamp plan, the Federal Reserve is likely to lose substantial power if reform legislation is enacted, as expected.

The Federal Reserve made several modifications and clarifications to the the Term ABS Loan Facility's (TALF) terms and conditions.

Only 6% of trial modifications have become permanent or are likely to become permanent under the Obama administration's foreclosure program, according to data the Treasury Department plans to release on Thursday.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) late Monday suspended Equitable Trust Mortgage Corp. (ETMC) of Baltimore from making Federal Housing Administration (FHA)-backed loans — the second such suspension of a lender within a week.

The U.S. market for covered bonds may be a step closer to reality thanks to the efforts of New Jersey Congressman Scott Garrett, who introduced an amendment during the House Financial Services Committee's markup of the Financial Stability Improvement Act of 2009.

Deutsche Bank Securities analysts favor being long the basis currently given the Federal Reserve's support of the MBS market.

Delinquency rates on commercial real estate mortgages continued to rise in the third quarter as the 30-day or more past due rate on CMBS topped 4% — the highest ever.

Lobbyists are hearing that the House Judiciary Committee wants to tack a bankruptcy cramdown amendment onto the massive regulatory reform package that the House of Representatives will debate and vote on this week.

Residential lenders funded $503 billion worth of home mortgages in the third quarter, a 48% gain from the same period last year, but a letdown compared to the second quarter, according to figures compiled by National Mortgage News (NMN) and the Quarterly Data Report (QDR).

New York’s largest housing finance agencies plan to sell more than $1 billion of bonds to Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae this month under a new federal program aimed at giving a shot in the arm to HFAs.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) charged three of New Century Financial Corp.'s top officials with securities fraud for misleading investors as the mortgage firm's subprime mortgage business was collapsing in 2006. At the time of the fraud, it was one of the largest subprime lenders in the nation.

The regulatory decision to block bond insurer Financial Guaranty Insurance Corp. (FGIC) from paying claims has resulted in “a failure to pay credit event,” according to the International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA).

Fitch Ratings published its surveillance criteria for rating CDOs exposed to corporate debt.

Bingham McCutchen added Sarah Smith, former co-head of Sidley Austin London’s international finance group, as a partner in the London office.

Lend America, which was banned from Federal Housing Administration lending on Monday, was refinancing certain customers without paying off their prior existing lien, according to veteran mortgage banking attorney Robert Lotstein.

The bankruptcy court overseeing the liquidation of mortgage lender Taylor Bean & Whitaker has approved a "stalking horse" bid on the nonbank's real estate-owned portfolio which includes almost 2,000 properties, according to a memo obtained by National Mortgage News.

Willie Newman, the former executive vice president of ABN Amro Mortgage Group, has been hired to head up the newly created residential mortgage origination unit at Cole Taylor Bank, Rosemont, Ill.

Highland Capital Management is working on an array of loan-focused funds that it hopes to launch at the beginning of 2010.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are required to reduce their mortgage portfolios by 10% every year beginning next year, until each of the two mortgage portfolios reaches $250 billion.

Manager Activity: Autos Book Runner Amount (US$ Mil) Rank Mkt.