The National Association of Insurance Commissioners is working to establish a process that would allow the regulator to alter the ratings assigned to certain MBS and ABS held by insurance companies.
Fitch Ratings warned that MBS and ABS could face credit implications following cyberattacks involving the parties in structured finance transactions even when the events don’t directly lead to payment defaults.
A $576.1 million MBS backed by GSE-eligible jumbo mortgages from CalCon Mutual Mortgage helped drive a slight increase in prime non-agency mortgage-backed security issuance in the fourth quarter. (Includes three data tables.)
What goes down must go up again? That seems to be the story of the fourth quarter’s revival in agency MBS values. Declining mortgage rates gave agency securities holders a shot in the arm.
MBS prices staged a nice turnaround in the fourth quarter but trading volume weakened in December. A stronger-than-anticipated jobs report in early January sent rates northward but not terribly.
Participants in the MBS and ABS market have widespread concerns about a proposal to adjust capital requirements for large banks. They argue that the proposed capital requirements are unnecessarily high.
FINRA proposed reducing trade reporting requirements to one minute after execution from 15 minutes. Many trades of agency debt securities and TBA MBS already meet the proposed reporting requirements, while ABS reporting lags.