New issuance of single-family MBS and non-mortgage ABS fell sharply in the fourth quarter of 2013 as mortgage refinance activity continued to decline and ABS production ended the year quietly, according to a new Inside MBS & ABS analysis. Monthly production of single-family MBS went into a steady, year-long decline at the beginning of 2013. In December, total single-family MBS issuance fell to just $77.1 billion, the lowest monthly production figure since July 2011. December marked the third straight month with MBS issuance below $100 billion, and it gave the fourth quarter an anemic $254.8 billion in total issuance – a two-and-a-half-year low. Although Freddie Mac scored a minor increase in December, the agency MBS market fell...[Includes two data charts]
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Jumbo MBS issuance isn’t likely to revive in the first quarter, and some market participants are starting to wonder if any new deals will get done by the end of March. With January almost at the mid-point there is talk that issuers – both active and wannabes – are shifting to a strategy of staying in the jumbo business as whole-loan traders as opposed to issuers. For now, it appears...
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It is not a matter of “if” or even “when” but rather “how” the remaining defendants settle lawsuits filed by the Federal Housing Finance Agency over billions in non-agency MBS sold to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in the years leading up to the housing crisis. Last week, the FHFA announced it recovered $7.88 billion in civil settlements in 2013 from seven of the 18 defendants the agency took to court in 2011. Eleven firms have yet to settle, with Bank of America facing the largest exposure because of its ownership of Countrywide Financial Corp. and Merrill Lynch, two of the largest issuers in the now-defunct subprime MBS market. In its original claim, the conservator of Fannie and Freddie accused...[Includes one data chart]
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Some lawmakers and non-agency interests are not happy with new Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Mel Watt’s move this week to delay a planned 10 basis point increase in the government-sponsored enterprises’ MBS guaranty fees. Two days after he was sworn in to a five-year term as FHFA director, Watt followed through on a promise he made late last month to delay then FHFA Acting Director Edward DeMarco’s announced 10 bps g-fee hike. Watt promised sellers at least 120 days before implementing any changes. The g-fee increase was set...
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Sens. Bob Corker, R-TN, and Mark Warner, D-VA, said this week they are unmoved by arguments that the government-sponsored enterprises have all but repaid the capital fronted by the federal government and that future GSE profits should be directed to GSE shareholders, including hedge funds that have increased their holdings in recent months. “We respect the Constitution, and we understand there are some issues that need to be worked through. But at the end of the day, the GSEs would have no value whatsoever had the government not stepped in,” Corker said at a discussion hosted by the Financial Services Roundtable. He told shareholders – such as Pershing Square Capital Management and Fairholme Funds – to file lawsuits against the federal government. “Go through the courts and seek legal remedy,” Corker said. Warner said...
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The Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association is opposed to the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority’s recent proposal to begin disseminating data for transactions in ABS and non-agency commercial MBS, out of concern it could compromise market liquidity. At issue are FINRA’s proposed changes in Trade Reporting and Compliance Engine to disseminate additional ABS transactions and at the same time reduce the reporting periods for such securities. The proposal would implement shorter reporting timeframes for ABS transactions (initially 45 minutes for six months, then 15 minutes), as well as real-time dissemination of trade information. “While SIFMA members agree...
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A commercial MBS issued in late December that received AAA ratings from Fitch Ratings and Standard & Poor’s wouldn’t have been rated higher than A1 by Moody’s Investors Service. Moody’s said the $375 million RBS Commercial Funding Inc. 2013-GSP Trust lacked structural support to obtain the highest ratings. The deal was a single-asset transaction without subordinate classes to absorb expenses that the trust can’t pass along to the borrower. “In cases where a subordinate class is not present to protect highly rated senior investors, some other feature, such as a reserve fund, has been employed to mitigate the risk,” according to Daniel Rubock, a senior vice president at Moody’s. “The GSP Trust lacks any such structural mitigant.” Fitch said...
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Nationally-recognized credit-rating agencies continue to show improvements in certain problem areas despite new concerns raised by federal examiners in their latest review, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission staff report. The SEC’s 2013 credit-rating agency examinations found deficiencies in eight key areas, particularly in the credit-rating agencies’ internal controls. Examiners stopped short of branding their “essential findings” as “material regulatory deficiencies,” although the SEC may do so in the future and require stronger corrective action, the report noted. Based on the latest exams, the SEC’s Office of Credit Ratings found...
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