Securitization

The CMBS market paralleled broader markets last week with buyers preparing for quarter end. The spreads were roughly unchanged week-over-week as trading volume slowed, according to Bank of America Merrill Lynch analysts.

Bankrupt bond insurer Ambac Financial Group had a net loss of $963 million in the fourth quarter of 2011.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has accused Wells Fargo of failing to produce documents relating to an investigation of the bank's mortgage-backed securities.The SEC filed a subpoena enforcement action in federal court on Friday, seeking to force Wells to comply with subpoenas dating back to September 2011.

The government-owned Ally Financial sold $250 million of legacy mortgages last year, using the whole loan securitization market, according to a recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A week of predominantly housing reports, no Treasury coupon auctions, and very little Federal Reserve speak was supposed to provide a respite after the sharp sell-off last week via upbeat assessments of the economy in the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) statement.

New York-based commercial real estate (CRE) finance firm Ladder Capital Finance Holdings appointed Michael Mazzei as president.

Most big lenders are proceeding as if new capital rules will inevitably force them to shrink their mortgage servicing rights, with a notable exception: Wells Fargo.

Auto ABS performed slightly better in January versus December with net losses and delinquencies dipping and recovery rates increasing, according to Standard & Poor's.

The current buoyancy underlying the U.S. CLO market can be attributed to a number of issuance friendly factors, not the least of which is significant interest from new buyers, market participants say.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch analysts have updated their home price model and think that home prices are currently bottoming out.

In competitive sports, being first is always the goal. But the distance between the U.S. — at the head of the pack — and the rest of the world in crafting financial reforms is becoming a major hurdle for implementing the Dodd-Frank Act.

Administration officials are trying to get the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) to reconsider its resistance to principal reductions on loans purchased by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner told lawmakers Wednesday.

Mortgage bankers issued $28 billion of Ginnie Mae MBS in February, down 7% from the prior month, according to new figures released Thursday.The new report shows that Ginnie-approved issuers securitized $26 billion in single-family loans, and $1.3 billion in multifamily loans in February. In addition, they securitized $718 million of FHA-insured reverse mortgages, up from $654 million in January.

Redwood Trust's second Jumbo RMBS for 2012 under its Sequoia Mortgage Trust 2012-2 or SEMT 2012-2 is currently marketing. The transaction is worth $327.9 million.

Mortgage rates jumped in response to the recent sharp sell-off resulting from perceived lower odds of further quantitative easing based on improving economic news.Freddie Mac reported 30-year fixed mortgage rates averaged 4.08%, a 16 basis points increase from last week. This is the highest level since late October. In addition, with an average 0.08-point, the no-point rate is near 4.30% and places 3.5% and some 4.0% coupons out of the refinancing window.

The National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) said it will receive roughly $5.25 million from HSBC for settling claims against the banking giant related to MBS it sold to five now defunct corporate credit unions.It is the third out-of-court settlement reached by NCUA over the corporate failures, following November deals with Deutsche Bank for $145 million and with Citigroup for $20.5 million.

Standard & Poor's said yesterday it is maintaining its CreditWatch with negative implications on Residential Capital's (ResCap) 'CC' ratings. The rating action was made last Nov. 10.

The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) has revamped a little used program for refinancing underwater conventional loans, and extended its "short refinance" program until the end of 2014.

In a report released today, Deutsche Bank Securities analysts examined the impact of Eastman Kodak Co.’s (Kodak) bankruptcy on the Hollywood and Highland loan in WFRBS 2011-C2.