Securitization

Fannie Mae's chief economist is warning that the U.S. has a 40% chance of slipping into a double-dip recession in 2012.

A long-awaited package of critical regulations from the Federal Reserve Board — viewed by many as the core of the Dodd-Frank Act — are expected to be released Tuesday, according to a person familiar with the matter.

A federal judge last week directed National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) and Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) to begin negotiations aimed at settling NCUA’s $629 million claims over the failure of WesCorp Federal Corporate Union, one of five suits NCUA has filed against Wall Street banks over the sale of risky mortgage-backed securities to corporate credit unions.

A funny thing happened on the way to the mortgage correction: while residential debt outstanding has been declining steadily for well over a year, subservicing contracts have increased – handsomely.

JPMorgan named a new head of its leveraged finance group in North America, the bank confirmed.

Members of a House Financial Services subcommittee are at odds over how to address conflict of interest issues involving the servicing of first and second mortgages.

Fitch Ratings said today that its outlook for both FFELP and private SLABS is negative. The rating agency expects both sectors to remain in the headlines in 2012.

JPMorgan Chase & Co.'s chief executive, Jamie Dimon, told investors at the beginning of 2011 that potential repurchases of private-label mortgage securities are "not that material" for his bank — an assertion that increasingly appears to be in doubt.

The Senate over the weekend added a guarantee fee increase for Ginnie Mae MBS to the payroll tax bill, passing the measure by an overwhelming margin of 89-10.

KeyBanc Capital Markets (KBCM) hired Christopher Moroz and Michael Giasi to its fixed-income team, expanding KBCM's MBS capabilities.

In a report released today, Barclays Capital analysts said that they remain positive on credit

Nevada's attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto filed civil fraud charges against Lender Processing Services and two subsidiaries alleging the company engaged in a widespread fraud of forging foreclosure documents.

The Houston-based law firm Gibbs & Burns, which was behind the Bank of America $8.5 billion MBS settlement, said today that it is representing investors looking to settle a claim against JPMorgan.

The week in mortgages was described as "slow", "light", "exhausted", and "apathetic". This statement is supported by Tradeweb's volume which averaged 87% for the week through Thursday, down further from even last week's limited 93%.

Fannie Mae's latest multifamily DUS REMIC priced under its guaranteed multifamily structures program included some exceptionally large orders and saw high demand for a yearend auction.

Apollo Global Management said today it agreed to acquire Stone Tower Capital, an investment firm that manages 12 CLOs, for an undisclosed sum.

Redwood Trust said it is currently seeing a very robust pipeline of potential CMBS transactions.

The Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday sued Richard Syron, the former chief executive officer of Freddie Mac, and Daniel Mudd, ex-CEO of Fannie Mae, over disclosures they made about subprime assets the GSEs invested in.

With Congress moving closer to raising the guarantee fee on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loans, a proposal to hike Ginnie Mae fees by an equal amount is being circulated on Capitol Hill, National Mortgage News has learned.

Fannie Mae is giving the mortgage servicing industry's handling of troubled government-backed loans a makeover. But it would rather do so in private.