Securitization

Congress never intended federal regulators to set high down payment requirements on 'qualified residential mortgages' (QRM), according to three senators who wrote the original QRM language.

The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform late Wednesday issued a subpoena, asking Bank of America to hand over all documents related to Countrywide Financial's 'Friends of Angelo' (FoA) program by March 7.

Wells Fargo has dramatically lowered credit score requirements for Federal Housing Administration (FHA) mortgages, the first major lender to do so following pressure from the agency and housing advocates.

Fixed related mortgage rates eased off their recent highs for the week ending Feb. 17. According to Freddie Mac, 30-year fixed mortgage rates averaged 5.0%, down five basis points, with a 0.7 average point.

The National Information Center has just released 4Q10 consolidated financial statements for bank holding companies.

BNP Paribas is sole lead on a cross-border local-currency denominated transaction that securitizes the rights to receive future payments from Peruvian state-owned water utility SEDAPAL, according to market sources. A BNP official did not return a request for comment.

Federal regulators and state Attorneys General may be close to a settlement with several major mortgage servicers over foreclosure processing violations, according to Federal Housing Commissioner David Stevens.

Nissan Motor Acceptance Corp. has filed an S-3 with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to issue under its Nissan Master Owner Trust Receivables program.

Alarmed by significant deficiencies uncovered as part of a regulatory review of mortgage servicer practices, the federal banking agencies are preparing formal enforcement actions against the largest servicing firms that they hope will set de facto standards across the industry, according to sources familiar with the situation.

As reported by StructuredFinanceNews.com yesterday (see related story), Redwood Trust on Tuesday filed notice with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to sell a $292 million MBS backed by Jumbo mortgage loans.

The reduction of the nonconforming loan limits at the end of September will bring an end to the agency Jumbo conforming asset class. This can also cause slower prepayment rates as well as higher refinancing rates available to these Jumbo borrowers.

ING Group, the Dutch-based financial services institution, said today that it has decided to sell the “majority” of its ING Real Estate Investment Management (ING REIM) businesses in two separate transactions worth more than $1 billion.

Bank of America hired former Saxon Mortgage CEO Tony Meola as a default servicing executive in its mortgage division.

CoreLogic, the Santa Ana-based analytics firm, believes existing home sales for all of 2010 may be 15% to 20% lower than reported by National Association of Realtors (NAR).

Redwood Trust on Tuesday filed notice with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), signaling its intention to sell a $292 million MBS backed by Jumbo mortgages.

Now that the White House has decided to pull the plug on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the next question becomes: How do you liquidate roughly $1.5 trillion of MBS and whole loans sitting on their books?

The National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) is preparing its latest offering of corporate bailout bonds, this one $840 million worth of so-called NCUA Guaranteed Notes backed by CMBS.

Ginnie Mae lenders securitized $35.3 billon of government guaranteed residential mortgages in January, a 5% increase from the prior month, according to new figures released by the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

A pair of rulings from federal bankruptcy judges last week is adding a new wrinkle to the role of MERSCorp in state foreclosure proceedings.

A Resource Capital Corp. subsidiary will purchase 100% of the ownership interests in Churchill Pacific Asset Management (CPAM) from Churchill Financial Holdings for $22.5 million, the New York-based real estate investment trust said today in a statement.