The Securities and Exchange Commission is reportedly looking into the securitization and put-back practices of Credit Suisse and JPMorgan Chase in connection with alleged recoveries from defective mortgages repurchased by originators from securitization trusts. Credit Suisse confirmed to Inside MBS & ABS a disclosure made by bond insurer MBIA Insurance Corp. that the Zurich-based bank had received a subpoena from the SEC seeking data on repurchases of certain defective loans. The disclosure was made in a lawsuit against three Credit Suisse units – Credit Suisse Securities, DLJ Mortgage Capital, Inc. and Select Portfolio Servicing – which MBIA filed with the New York State Supreme Court on April 29. The suit seeks to compel Credit Suisse to turn over data which MBIA believes would bolster its fraud and breach-of-contract claims against...

&PTop rating agencies continue to have different requirements for issuers to obtain the most favorable ratings on certain transactions, including the all-important criterion of credit enhancement. The latest manifestation of this dynamic involved a recent $1.45 billion servicer advance receivable transaction by American Home Mortgage Servicing Inc., a deal that passed muster with DBRS and Standard & Poor’s. But AHMS withdrew the deal from consideration at Fitch Ratings because of that company’s more conservative rating criteria. DBRS and S gave most components of the transaction a triple-A rating. That included two $325 million senior term notes and a $600 million senior variable funding note. The deal included subordinate term notes of $150 million and $50 million. The primary assets of...

In what may be an omen of a deeper slide of volume in the months to come, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac saw their issuance of new mortgage-backed securities drop 21.4 percent in the first quarter of the year from the prior period, the latest data from the Inside Mortgage Finance GSE MarketScope show...[includes one full-page chart]