Securitization

Ginnie Mae has repurchased $4.5 billion of delinquent loans out of securitized pools this year in an effort to reduce losses on servicing portfolios it inherited from LendAmerica and other defaulted issuers.

Standard & Poor's placed 1,196 tranches in 129 re-REMIC transactions on watch for possible downgrade.

Bank of America Corp. has begun potential settlement discussions with large institutional investors who bought MBS that later underperformed, causing losses at these entities, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal.

Moody's Investors Service analysts said they don't believe Countrywide, now part of Bank of America Corp., routinely failed to transfer mortgage notes to trusts when the lender securitized loans.

Rep. Randy Neugebauer, who will chair the House Financial Services oversight subcommittee next year, is demanding answers about how Fannie Mae's and Freddie Mac's participation in a loan modification program would benefit taxpayers.

Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena should be pricing its sale-and-leaseback CMBS deal next week, according to a Reuters report.

Ginnie Mae issuers securitized $34.4 billion of government guaranteed residential mortgages in November, down 3% from the prior month.

The decline in foreign investor holdings of agency MBS continued in October, contributing to an overall year-to-date decline through that time of $57 billion, according to a Credit Suisse strategist.

The California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS) this week suspended its mortgage program, citing rising delinquencies and declining usage by its target audience: state workers. The program's administrator is Citigroup.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch is preparing a $402 million CLO to be managed by Ares Management, according to Bloomberg.

Despite coming to market at what has traditionally been a quieter time of the year, the recent spate of government-backed securitizations to hit the market have found a healthy buyside appetite.

Dechert hired Laura Swihart as a partner in the finance and real estate practice and will be based in the firm’s New York office. Swihart was most recently a partner at Winton & Strawn.

Differences in judicial and non-judicial foreclosures over the past several months have meant some securitized private-label subprime/Alt-A mortgages made to borrowers in the what is still considered a relatively weak — though improving — California market, for example, are actually exhibiting better performance in some ways as a group than their counterparts in the relatively stronger New York market.

In its first full year of trading, PERILS industry loss index saw the total placements of insurance risk transactions exceed $1 billion, according to insurance data provided by Zurich-based PERILS.

The Senate Banking Committee Tuesday afternoon approved the nomination of Joseph Smith to be the next director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) by a 16-6 vote. However, several Republicans are planning to delay his confirmation by the full Senate.

Moody's Investors Service said yesterday that the "intense spotlight" that was placed on mortgage servicers following the disclosure of irregularities in foreclosure documentation will persist into next year.

With the government agency that dominates the reverse mortgage space working on moves to address the increase in tax and insurance default concerns there, some players may want to keep an eye on how these affect the market for this product.

The government's primary foreclosure prevention program – Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) – has not lived up to expectations and will wind up helping just a fraction of its target audience, according to a new report from the bipartisan Congressional Oversight Panel (COP).

Citigroup late last week agreed to sell a $441 million package of nonperforming loans with PennyMac Mortgage Investment Trust being identified as the winning bidder, according to industry sources who play in that space.

Joe Smith, the Obama administration's nominee for director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, said Monday that the government should continue playing a role in the mortgage market, but he left the final word to Congress.