As leading figures in the secondary market continue their efforts to reboot the non-agency mortgage-backed securities sector, attracting private capital remains the single most critical factor in the equation. However, during a recent industry conference, institutional investors made it clear that in order for them to return, the market’s infrastructure will need to provide stronger protections, enhanced transparency and an improved ability to respond when a deal starts to go sour ...

The latest “green papers” in the Structured Finance Industry Group’s RMBS 3.0 standards-setting project focus on due-diligence disclosures for investors in non-agency mortgage-backed securities. The SFIG noted that potential investors in non-agency MBS are particularly interested in findings conducted by third-party due-diligence firms before a security is issued. The SFIG proposed a model form that would disclose an “extract” of due-diligence findings to investors ...

FirstKey Mortgage, a jumbo conduit indirectly owned by funds managed by Cerberus Capital Management, is set to issue its first jumbo mortgage-backed security. FirstKey ramped up its jumbo activity in the past year and to this point has aggregated loans for inclusion in jumbo MBS from other issuers, including WinWater Home Mortgage, another relatively new jumbo MBS player. The $285.98 million FirstKey Mortgage Trust 2014-1 is set to receive AAA ratings ...

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau proposed new servicing requirements this week. Among other changes, the federal regulator proposed requiring servicers to offer loss mitigation to borrowers that have received a loan mod but are in danger of re-default. The CFPB’s servicing rules currently require a servicer to evaluate a borrower for loss mitigation only once during the life of the loan. The proposed rule would also set requirements for ... [Includes three briefs]

As part of its RMBS 3.0 initiative, the Structured Finance Industry Group this week released the second installment of its recommended best practices for the non-agency MBS market. New and revised material was released for each of the three major “work streams” in the project, which broadly cover: representation-and-warranty issues and repurchases; due diligence, data and disclosure; and the roles of transaction parties and bondholder communications. The 54 new pages released this week bring the cumulative work to about 125 pages, including appendices. In the reps-and-warranties section, new provisions cover...

A top Obama administration official told secondary market participants this week that the concept of a “benchmark transaction” could help the non-agency RMBS market overcome its feeble condition. Used in conjunction with the industry’s RMBS 3.0 project, such a mechanism could help clear away the rubble from the market’s collapse and attract big institutional investors that have largely refused to come back in from the sidelines. “The now widely recognized structural deficiencies in the legacy private-label securitizations that came to light during the financial crisis truly shattered the trust of market participants, with the result that almost seven years now after the collapse, this market is barely clinging to life,” said Michael Stegman, special counselor to the U.S Treasury for housing finance policy. “Concrete reforms are clearly needed to rebuild confidence and establish a resilient, sustainable architecture to bring back significant private capital to the U.S. housing market.” Stegman delivered...

The National Credit Union Administration this week sued Deutsche Bank National Trust Co., alleging the bank violated federal and state laws by failing to carry out its duties as trustee for 121 non-agency MBS trusts. According to the complaint filed in federal district court in Manhattan, Deutsche Bank failed to protect five corporate credit unions – U.S. Central, WesCorp, Members United, Southwest and Constitution – that purchased $140 billion in RMBS issued from the trusts between 2004 and 2007. The securities lost...

Bank of New York Mellon is looking to increase its master servicing activity on residential mortgages, according to officials at the firm that acquired the master servicing unit from JPMorgan Chase in October 2006. However, BNYM is up against stiff competition, including Wells Fargo, a dominant presence in master servicing for non-agency MBS. BNYM is focusing on growth opportunities from managing new funds in traditional residential mortgages as well as new loan types, according to a recent report by Fitch Ratings. In September, Fitch downgraded BNYM’s master servicer rating due to compliance issues, organizational changes and low activity in recent years. The firm has...

Pricing for jumbo mortgage-backed securities has improved in recent months, prompting an increase in issuance from some firms, but bank demand remains robust. “Although the difference has narrowed, our whole-loan sale execution for most jumbo loans continues to be more attractive than our securitization execution as a result of strong demand from banks,” Brett Nicholas, president of Redwood Trust, said this week during a call with investors. In the third quarter of 2014, Redwood issued ...

Originations by nonbanks of loans that don’t meet standards for qualified mortgages are off to a slow start, according to industry participants. “There is obviously a lot of noise in the area, a lot of announcements about people getting involved. And from what we have seen, there is nothing of any size and replicable flow that seems readily securitizable,” Michael Commaroto, CEO of Apollo Residential Mortgage, said this week during a call with investors. He said ...