House conferees have accepted a Senate counteroffer to amend a provision in the conference base text on regulatory reform directing federal agencies to exempt low-risk mortgage loans and commercial MBS from new regulations requiring risk retention. The agreement came after Senate conferees this week rejected an initial House offer to strike the risk-retention exemption for “qualified...
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House and Senate negotiators moved closer to approving new legislative language that would create a formal regulatory apparatus for covered bonds in the U.S. as part of the massive financial reform legislation nearing completion this week. House lawmakers agreed to include covered bond legislation drafted by Rep. Scott Garrett, R-NJ, that would require the Treasury Department to issue...
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American Residential Equities, a Miami-based real estate company that buys and liquidates pools of non-performing residential mortgages, filed a lawsuit against servicing giant GMAC Mortgage Corp. for servicing failures. But GMAC said last week that it will fight the suit and did nothing wrong. The suit, filed in the Southern District of Florida, alleges that GMAC failed to properly...
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The first new commercial MBS conduit transaction backed by a diverse pool of loans since 2008 is expected to close next week, industry sources said, and the deal may point to a revival of a key type of securitized commercial real estate transaction and an expansion of needed liquidity in the market. JPMorgan Securities is selling the $716.3 million conduit, which is backed by...
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Thrift institutions increased their holdings of mortgage securities for the second consecutive quarter in early 2010 mostly through the agency MBS market, according to a new ranking and analysis by Inside MBS & ABS. Savings associations regulated by the Office of Thrift Supervision held $146.16 billion of MBS in their retained portfolios as of the end of March. That was up 3.4 percent... [Includes two charts]
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Mortgage servicers are making fewer loan modification offers to eligible candidates, and few trial mods are being converted to permanently restructured mortgages, according to new data on the Home Affordable Modification Program released this week. As of May, there were 357,998 non-agency mortgage loans that were either in trial or permanent modification...
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Loss mitigation rules on FHA and VA adjustable-rate mortgages may result in changes in the cash flow from structured securities backed by these loans that have been issued over the years by Fannie Mae, the government-sponsored enterprise said. A significant volume of FHA and VA loans, mostly delinquent loans repurchased from Ginnie Mae MBS pools, were resecuritized using structured...
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A panel of state insurance regulators has decided to ratchet down a proposed increase in risk-based capital requirements that apply to commercial mortgage loans in good standing, a move sought by both the mortgage banking and life insurance industries. The move means life insurance entities will face less of a hit to their capital base than otherwise would have been the case...
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The Securities and Exchange Commission this week charged New York investment advisory firm ICP Asset Management and its founder of defrauding clients and investors through improper transactions made on behalf of collateralized debt obligations which the firm managed. An SEC complaint filed in federal district court in Manhattan alleged that the company and its...
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