Failure to deposit borrowers’ escrow amounts into custodial accounts at the time of securitization or pool transfer is the most common fault committed by Ginnie Mae issuers, according to compliance experts. In particular, such oversights accounted for 24.7 percent of findings of compliance reviews conducted between Sept. 3, 2013, and Aug. 17, 2015. Ginnie requires that borrower escrow amounts be deposited in a “timely” manner, which is defined as within 48 hours of pool securitization, explained experts at the recent Ginnie Mae Summit conference in Arlington, VA. Approved Ginnie Mae issuers undergo...

Investors at the ABS East conference sponsored by Information Management Network last week in Miami largely agreed that many MBS and ABS sectors are stronger than they were before the crisis in terms of issuance and certainly in terms of performance. While the investor base for securities has declined from the boom times of 10 years ago, there are also fewer distressed sellers. “You tend to see that bonds are held in strong hands, which makes for a strong underpinning,” said Alessandro Pagani, a portfolio manager and head of securitized assets at Loomis Sayles. “It makes for a pretty good balance between supply and demand.” John Vibert, a managing director at Prudential Fixed Income, said...

The delinquency rate for loans backing commercial MBS was fairly stable in August, according to reports from Fitch Ratings and Trepp. Although Fitch reports that loan delinquencies fell one notch to 4.52 percent from the previous month, Trepp data show that the overall CMBS delinquency rate inched upward to 5.45 percent in August, from 5.42 in July. Late payment balances fell...

David Applegate, CEO of Common Securitization Solutions, revealed this week that the joint venture owned by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac has finished much of the work for a major milestone in the common securitization platform. Although officials promised more information about the timeline next year, the government-sponsored enterprises’ use of the CSP – let alone the GSE single security – looks to be a ways off. At the ABS East conference produced by Information Management Network this week in Miami, Applegate said CSS has completed about 90 percent of the work required for single-class security issuance by Freddie on the CSP. Officials at CSS, the GSEs and the Federal Housing Finance Agency revealed this week that Freddie would be the first to test the system, and that Fannie would go on board at a later date, when issuance of the interchangeable single security will begin. The officials also noted...

“It’s amazing that we’re talking about this seven years after the financial crisis,” said Bob Behal, a principal and co-head of ABS/commercial MBS Investments at Vanguard Group, during this week’s ABS East conference in Miami. He was referring to the practice of rating shopping, which is a current practice, particularly in the commercial MBS market, according to a number of industry participants. A panel regarding reforms for the rating services and due diligence providers attracted a standing-room audience at the conference produced by Information Management Network. The conference was...

The resignation of Stonegate Mortgage CEO Jim Cutillo didn’t do much for the stock price of the company Monday.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency’s announcement last week that it will increase both the single-family low-income and multifamily low-income purchase goals was met with mixed reaction.In its final housing goals for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac for 2015 through 2017, the single-family low-income goal was raised just one percentage point to 24 percent. But some housing industry groups weren’t necessarily happy with the single-family goal. “At 24 percent, the affordable housing goals fall short of what can and should be expected of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac,” said Center for Responsible Lending President Mike Calhoun. “These companies have the capacity to reach a greater percentage of lower-wealth, creditworthy households, allowing borrowers to build wealth through homeownership.”

Freddie’s multifamily business grew so much that some industry observers worried that the GSE could reach the $30 billion annual multifamily business cap set by the FHFA.

Timeshare collateral has displayed consistent year-over-year improvement since 2012.

The application of capital requirements to MBS and other structured finance products in the coming years will likely trump any typical collateral analysis investors currently consider, according to analysts at Standard & Poor’s. In a report published late last week, the analysts said global capital requirements have the potential to become impediments to providing financing via securitized products. “Of particular investor focus recently are...