Securitization

Bank of America funded $58.4 billion of home mortgages in the first quarter, a 33% decline compared to the fourth quarter, and a further sign that the megabank — like many others — is suffering from a weak home buying market.

Bram Smith, the executive director of the Loan Syndications and Trading Association (LSTA), yesterday testified before a congressional subcommittee, arguing against proposed rules that would require CLO managers to retain a 5% interest in their funds.

Under pressure from Congress, federal regulators issued proposals this week that would exempt corporate end users of derivatives from new margin requirements, but force them to maintain sufficient capital in case of future losses.

As the megabanks continue to write down the value of their residential servicing portfolios, now may be the best time ever to buy housing receivables, according to a new report from Mortgage Industry Advisory Corp. (MIAC), New York.

Acting Comptroller of the Currency John Walsh defended bank regulators Thursday for moving forward with an enforcement action against the top 14 mortgage servicers even while several of those banks continue to negotiate with state attorneys general and other federal agencies.

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) fined Jefferies & Co. $1.5 million for failing to disclose that it was earning additional compensation when selling new-issue auction-rate securities to clients.

The Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA) reacted to the House Financial Services Committee hearing titled Understanding the Implications and Consequences of the Proposed Rule on Risk Retention.

Deerfield Capital Corp. and CIFC have closed their merger. The new firm will now be called CIFC Deerfield Corp.

JPMorgan Chase plans to sell a $1.5 billion B-piece offering to Torchlight Investors, according to a Bloomberg report.

The increase in appetite for esoteric ABS hasn't been solely for on-the-run assets, the market is increasingly looking at off-the-run assets that often require more work to get done.

The banking consent agreements signed by some of the nation's largest residential servicers on Wednesday require the firms to stop the practice of "dual tracking" where at risk homeowners start the loan modification process but also are officially put into a parallel foreclosure pipeline.

MountainView Capital Holdings, Denver, hired Robert Wellerstein as a managing director in the firm's mortgage and fixed-income sales and trading units.

Moody's Investors Service said today in its U.S. ABS conference that the economic overview looks great with a forecast for strong growth in 2011.

Cantor Commercial Real Estate (CCRE) is in the market with its very first CMBS worth a little more than $634.5 million.

An enforcement action against a bank is almost always bad news for the institution involved.

A mortgage that is more than 60 days late might seem like an automatic disqualification for inclusion into a government-backed security. However, until last week, servicers were able to pool such loans into securities backed by the Ginnie Mae.

Sales of distressed properties could pull home prices down by another 10%, according to CoreLogic chief economist Mark Fleming.

The European Central Bank (ECB) raised interest rates for the first time in almost three years last week. It is a widely anticipated quarter-point rate increase to 1.25% and is likely to be followed by consecutive increases this year.

Mortgage originations at JPMorgan Chase (JPM) dropped 29% since the end of 2010, kicking off a year where industrywide originations are projected to drop below $1 trillion.

Federal banking regulators Wednesday afternoon dropped their regulatory "bomb" on the nation's largest residential servicers — and two of their top outside vendors — accusing the firms of a "pattern of negligence and misconduct" tied to the processing of loans.