The Federal Reserve Bank of New York announced this week that it selected three firms to participate in a pilot project to expand agency MBS sellers beyond the large primary dealers that work with the NY Fed. The pilot will last for about one year and the firms will participate as counterparties on the Open Market Trading Desk along with primary dealers in the Desk’s agency MBS operations. Brean Capital, Loop Capital Markets and Mischler Financial Group were selected to participate in the Mortgage Operations Counterparty Pilot Program, which was announced in August. The NY Fed didn’t disclose the number of firms that applied for the pilot but noted that the intent was always to work with a small number of firms to speed the pilot and keep costs low for the NY Fed. The pilot program participants are set...