Securitization

If it weren't for a recent legal settlement with Bank of America, the Federal Home Administration's (FHA) mortgage insurance fund would be in the red.

Brazilian Securities, an agency that specializes in securitizing real estate receivables, is currently in the process of selling two mortgage-backed real estate certificates, or CRIs, with a minimum ticket size of R$1,000 ($582), according to a source close to the deal.

The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) will "soon" increase its annual premium on Jumbo mortgages by 25 basis points, according to government budget documents released Monday morning.

DBRS today published its U.S. Private Student Loan Performance Report for 4Q11. The study contains indices that benchmark loan performance metrics for the private SLABS sector.

Standard & Poor's said in a release Monday that GM Financial's proprietary credit scoring was a better predictor of the performance of their subprime auto ABS than FICO scores.

For the moment, the job of ensuring that the nation's largest banks comply with the terms of last week's mammoth mortgage settlement falls on just one man.Joseph A. Smith, Jr., North Carolina's banking commissioner, is charged with ensuring that the five biggest mortgage servicers — Bank of America Corp., JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, Wells Fargo and Ally Financial — implement new servicing standards and take other steps that are required by the settlement.

A mortgage banking firm specializing in U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) loans is trying to sell $4.5 billion of GNMA-backed mortgage servicing rights through Interactive Mortgage Advisors (IMA), Denver.

Servicers will likely avoid extending modifications as part of the $26 billion AG settlement since they will not be indemnified against investor lawsuits, according to a JPMorgan Securities report.

Auto ABS volume keeps getting bigger with three deals this week, further boosting the sector.

The mortgage insurance division of Genworth Financial is beginning to see a noticeable pick up in Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP) refinancing applications, a sign that the '2.0' version of the program may finally be gaining traction.

In the past three years, the proportion of new-issue non-mortgage ABS deals placed in the private/144A market has risen considerably, according to a recent Barclays Capital report.

Carrington Capital Management, a unit of Carrington Holding Co., and American Home Mortgage Servicing (AHMSI) have agreed to bring to a close the action filed by Carrington against AHMSI in 2009.

Greek drama book-ended the week that led to sharp flight-to-quality trades on Monday and Friday. Meanwhile, Treasury supply weighed on the market the days in between, which caused 10-year note yields to surge to 2.047% by Thursday's close from 1.90% at Monday's close.

More than a day after the announcement of a mammoth national mortgage servicing settlement, the actual terms of the deal still aren't public. The Web site created for the national settlement lists the document as "coming soon."

Massachusetts’ top securities regulator has asked Bank of America to turn over documents related to two CLOs.

Bond-insurer Assured Guaranty Thursday announced it was doubling the quarterly dividend to 9 cents per share.

Bond insurer MBIA has admitted to making errors in its application to regulators seeking to split the company in two.

Depending on who you talked to, the massive mortgage servicer settlement announced Thursday was either a "criminal sell out" or a much-needed shot in the arm for the housing market.

Coming off a strong January for new deals, and encouraged by improved economic news, sentiment in the U.S. CLO market has taken a giddy skip from guarded optimism to bullishness — a little too bullish, according to some market participants.