As the Securities and Exchange Commission continues to consider how to reform the rating process for structured finance transactions, including non-agency MBS, industry analysts affiliated with the Brookings Institution suggested that the fix doesn’t require altering the issuer-pay model that has been in place for more than 40 years. Instead, the SEC should help establish transparent, numerical benchmarks, according to two industry participants, shifting away from the current system of letter-based ratings that are also used for corporate debt and sovereign debt. Ann Rutledge, a founding principal at R&R Consulting, a credit rating service, and Robert Litan, a nonresident senior fellow at The Brookings Institution, detailed their proposal in an economic study recently published by Brookings. “Securities that are rated only in an ordinal fashion – in order of likelihood of default – can be...

The characteristics of mortgages included in jumbo mortgage-backed securities remained strong in the second quarter of 2014, according to a new analysis by Inside Nonconforming Markets. However, the high quality of jumbo MBS has not attracted enough investors to make issuance more appealing for banks than retaining the loans in portfolio. Debt-to-income ratios on loans included in the $1.03 billion in jumbo MBS issued in the second quarter averaged ... [Includes one data chart]

Ginnie Mae servicing remained flat in the second quarter of 2014, continuing a trend that began in the third quarter of last year as FHA refinancing fell and purchase activity slowed, according to Inside FHA Lending’s analysis of Ginnie Mae data. Servicing volume rose by only 0.7 percent from the first quarter, slightly lower from the 0.9 percent increase reported by Ginnie Mae servicers for the first three months of 2014. On the other hand, volume was up modestly by 5.9 percent year-over-year, data showed. Ginnie Mae servicers ended the second quarter with a total of $1.46 trillion in unpaid principal balance, up from $1.45 trillion in the prior quarter. Four out of the top five Ginnie Mae servicers were banks. Wells Fargo closed out the second quarter with $425.9 billion in servicing volume, a 0.2 percent decrease from the previous quarter but up 2.1 percent from a year ago. Its 29.2 percent market share put it ... [1 chart]

Ginnie Mae would play a greater role in a private-market partnership model envisioned in proposed housing finance reform legislation introduced recently by House Democrats. However, many in the industry doubt whether a Democrat-sponsored reform bill will pass in this Congress. Sponsored by Reps. John Delaney (MD), John Carney (DE) and Jim Himes (CT), the Partnership to Strengthen Homeownership Act would put Ginnie Mae in charge of all single- and multifamily mortgage-backed securities with government backing. Among other things, H.R. 5055 would create a new Ginnie Mae MBS for conventional mortgages backed by the full faith and credit of the federal government with minimum support from the private sector. Under the proposed model, private entities would assume up to 5 percent of the first-loss capital on the MBS. The remaining 95 percent would be shared between ...

The six lawsuits filed in June by institutional investors against non-agency MBS trustees are just the beginning of actions against trustees, according to an attorney who has pursued representation-and-warranty claims against non-agency MBS issuers. “We are likely to see a flood of litigation against trustees alleging that the banks sat on their hands and blew the statute of limitations on valuable putback claims,” according to Isaac Gradman, an attorney at Perry Johnson Anderson Miller & Moskowitz. The June lawsuits by BlackRock, PIMCO and other institutional investors targeted...

Real estate investment trusts that have been gobbling up MBS the past few years – and paying hefty dividends in the process – may have some more room to run, especially if interest rates remain relatively benign. “Given the tailwinds of lower prepayment speeds and Fed purchases, we believe that payout levels should remain stable in the near term,” said one veteran analyst who works for a top five bank. This analyst, who tracks several large REITs that invest in agency securities, added...

Thanks to lousy origination profits posted over the past six months, mortgage bankers increasingly are boosting earnings through servicing-released arrangements, causing a mini-boom in flow transactions. “You might say we’re back to a normal operating environment where originations are cash-flow negative,” which is forcing lenders to book profits through MSR sales, said Jeff Levine, managing director of Houlihan Lokey, an investment banking firm. But Levine is...

The Treasury Department issued a wide-ranging request for comments last week as part of an effort to increase issuance of non-agency mortgage-backed securities. Treasury officials said they are working toward developing standards and practices for the non-agency MBS market. “The private-label securities market has been dormant since the financial crisis,” said Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew. “The fact is, we need to attract more private capital to the housing market ...

MBS prices have been hovering around their highs for the year and could stay that way through the fall with minor corrections occurring along the way. “Prices have risen even on the good economic news,” said Joe Farr, director of sales and marketing for MBSQuoteline. “But they fell by about 1 percent over the past week.” Recently, when the Consumer Price Index rose, there was...

The Securities and Exchange Commission has largely wrapped up its enforcement on structured finance issues related to the financial crisis, according to current and former officials at the federal regulator. The SEC’s Complex Financial Instruments Unit is now focusing on more recent issues in the structured finance sector. “The unit has now shifted its attention to the next frontier, and I expect it to zero in on the structuring, rating, valuation, sale, and use of other types of complex financial products, such as commercial MBS, structured notes and credit default swaps,” Andrew Ceresney, the director of the SEC’s division of enforcement, said in May. Stephen Crimmins, a partner at the law firm of K&L Gates who previously worked at the SEC for 14 years, said...