Securitization

Investors, as well as issuers of MBS with government guarantees, should take a hit if the underlying loans go bad, according to former GSE regulator James Lockhart.

New York Life Insurance Co., TIAA-CREF, the French bank Dexia and other institutional investors joined the list of bondholders seeking compensation from Bank of America Corp. over losses on Countrywide's MBS.

The Obama administration will not make its Jan. 31st deadline for proposing reforms to the GSEs, an administration official said Monday.

The biggest obstacle to reforming mortgage servicing may be that regulators cannot agree on the proper vehicle for it.

Banks are in for tougher negotiations with retailers over store credit card programs if a Federal Reserve proposal is finalized.

Sidley Austin promoted Chicago-based lawyer T.J. Gordon to partner in its structured finance and securitization and syndicated and leveraged finance groups.

Martin Fingerhut, previously a partner at Blake, Cassels & Graydon's (Blakes) financial services group and chair of the law firm's structured finance group, is moving to Cassels Brock & Blackwell, another Canadian law firm based in Toronto. Fingerhut was hired as a senior partner and head of the firm's securitization group.

Ginnie Mae is weighing its options on what to do with $22 billion in servicing rights it yanked away from Taylor Bean & Whitaker (TBW)in the summer of 2009.

The CMBS market is getting a boost with the return of mezzanine investors that will purchase some of the riskiest pieces of securitizations or commercial real estate loans.

AmeriCredit Financial Services and Ford Motor Credit Co. are both in the market with their respective auto ABS deals.

Last year's robo-signing scandals delayed tens of thousands of foreclosures in the 23 states where the process is handled in court. A new controversy could complicate foreclosures in the other 27 states.

CMBS special servicers are working out underperforming mortgages at an increasingly faster pace. However, these companies are still fighting an "uphill battle" this year, Fitch Ratings analysts said in a report released today.

Residential Capital, an Ally Financial subsidiary, cannot be sued in a class action law suit where the proposed class comprises "large, institutional and sophisticated investors" that have the financial resources as well as incentive to pursue their own claims, Judge Harold Baer ruled in the case called New Jersey Carpenters Health Fund v. Residential Capital LLC.

The National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) late this week sold another $1.5 billion of its NCUA Guaranteed Notes, bonds whose cash flows ultimately come from toxic MBS owned by now defunct corporate credit unions.

The 50 state attorney generals continue to work on a settlement with the top five mortgage servicers, according to market reports.

The primary market for European covered bonds saw substantial volume sold in the first month of the year.

Bank of America Friday morning reported a fourth quarter loss of $5 billion on its residential finance and insurance unit, citing $4.1 billion in representation and warranty costs tied to buybacks from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. In the year ago quarter its mortgage loss was $1 billion.

When it comes to the future of mortgage securitizations, it's safe to say the entire business is up for grabs, but nowhere is that more apparent than in the market for issuing bonds backed by "nonqualified" residential loans.

Gains related to principal investments held by certain consolidated real estate funds contributed to relative improvement in Morgan Stanley’s earnings for 4Q10 and the full year in 2010.

Mortgage Industry Advisory Corp., New York, is offering for sale a $79 million package of residential servicing rights tied to Fannie Mae MBS.