RMBS

  • Down payment assistance to impact turnover?

    SIFMA is considering whether to allow mortgage loans with a new subordinate financing product, FirstREX, to be delivered into the TBA market. US federal home loan banks have already agreed to accept pools with this type of down payment as collateral, while the FHFA has recommended that the GSEs also accept the product.

    FirstREX is an equity-sharing product that buys .......

    News Round-up 13 August 2013

  • Clarity emerging on BofA MSR transfer

    Moody's has released a list of 26 non-agency RMBS trusts - backed by US$4.1bn of collateral - that will be affected by the transfer of the first chunk of MSRs from Bank of America to Nationstar, scheduled for early September (SCI 8 January). The sale will be concentrated in prime/Alt-A deals belonging to the BOAA, BOAMS and HVMLT shelves, with .......

    News Round-up 13 August 2013

  • Eminent domain challenges outlined

    Further details have emerged about the legal challenges brought by investors against Richmond, California's eminent domain plan (SCI 8 August). Three trustees - Wells Fargo, Deutsche Bank and Bank of New York Mellon - have filed two separate lawsuits in the US District Court of Northern California to block the city from seizing mortgages under the plan.

    According to Barclays .......

    News Round-up 13 August 2013

  • PPIP programme draws to an end

    The current quarter marks the effective end of the PPIP programme, as all the funds have been wound down and all US Treasury debt and equity repaid. The last fund to sell its assets was Oaktree, which invested primarily in CMBS securities.

    The Treasury had invested US$6.2bn in equity capital in the PPIP programme, along with US$12.4bn of debt. The .......

    News Round-up 13 August 2013

  • Chinese slow-down weighs on Aussie RMBS

    S&P has released a number of reports detailing the potential effects of China's slow-down on Australia. China's GDP growth rate dipped to 7.8% in 2012 from 9.2% the previous year.

    For this year, S&P expects China's GDP growth will likely slow to 7.3% and remain at that pace in 2014. As a result, the agency has updated its three economic .......

    News Round-up 13 August 2013

  • RMBS loss criteria updated

    Fitch has updated its criteria for estimating losses on US mortgage pools for RMBS, as part of its annual criteria review. While the basic framework remains unchanged, the model has been expanded to analyse both agency and non-agency collateral.

    In addition, Fitch has introduced three new variables that influence default expectations: number of borrowers, origination channel and liquid reserves. The .......

    News Round-up 12 August 2013

  • Securitised credit boosts hedge fund returns

    Aggregate hedge fund returns rose by an average of 1.2% in July and have returned an average of 4.5% through the first seven months of 2013, according to the latest eVestment figures. Credit strategies resumed their path upwards during the month, with securitised credit funds leading the way once again.

    Credit hedge funds focused on mortgage markets have fared relatively .......

    News Round-up 9 August 2013

  • Rising opposition

    Eminent domain success in doubt

    Successful implementation of Richmond, California's eminent domain plan (SCI 31 July) and widespread adoption of similar exercises by other cities is said to be unlikely. Nevertheless, it has introduced more uncertainty to the non-agency RMBS market.

    Less than a third of the 624 underwater mortgages targeted in Richmond's proposal are believed to be delinquent. The city has offered to buy .......

    News Analysis 8 August 2013

  • Strategy director named

    Clayton Euro Risk has appointed Konstantine 'Gus' Pastras to the newly-created position of client development and strategy director, responsible for sales, client development and marketing activity. He will report to ceo Michael Bolton.

    Pastras has spent the majority of his career in RMBS, most recently as vp of ABS & RMBS at DBRS. Before that, he worked at Fannie Mae, .......

    Job Swaps 8 August 2013

  • Divergent price talk observed

    US non-agency RMBS secondary supply was boosted by a large CDO liquidation yesterday. The bid-list was concentrated in 2005-vintage mezzanine bonds, which in turn showed a wide range of price talk.

    For example, the Alt-A hybrid GPMF 2005-HY1 M1 bond was talked at low-30s and low/mid-40s during the session. The prime hybrid BAFC 2005-D B1 tranche was talked at mid-60s, .......

    Market Reports 8 August 2013

  • Foreclosure timelines to continue lengthening

    RMBS investors face increased carrying costs because most servicers' completed foreclosure timelines will continue to lengthen in the foreseeable future, according to Moody's latest Servicer Dashboard report. Loans in judicial states remain far more elevated than those in non-judicial states, but timelines for non-judicial states will increase at a faster rate than those for judicial states because of changes in .......

    News Round-up 7 August 2013

  • BofA charged with fraud

    The US SEC has charged Bank of America and two subsidiaries with defrauding investors in an RMBS by failing to disclose key risks and misrepresenting facts about the underlying mortgages (SCI 5 August). The SEC alleges that the bank failed to tell investors that more than 70% of the mortgages backing the offering - called BOAMS 2008-A - originated through .......

    Job Swaps 7 August 2013

  • Wave of Irish restructurings forecast

    Fitch expects long-term restructurings of Irish mortgages to become more prevalent now that a cohesive and credible framework for dealing with arrears has taken shape. The agency anticipates that tools such as split mortgages or trade-down products for borrowers in negative equity will be used first, followed by personal insolvency arrangements (PIAs). Repossession or voluntary surrender is likely to be .......

    News Round-up 6 August 2013

  • Sustainable future for BTR investing

    Mortgage strategists at Morgan Stanley believe that the burgeoning buy-to-rent (BTR) business is sustainable and has a long runway for growth. Institutional players are buying assets below replacement cost and realising material home price appreciation (HPA) today, with the prospect for strong cashflow growth over time.

    Although initial net yields - at 5%-6% after capex - may fall short of .......

    News 6 August 2013

  • Ginnie launches loan-level initiative

    Ginnie Mae has begun releasing loan-level data for newly issued single-family MBS on a daily basis. The disclosure file will contain 36 data elements, including information regarding borrowers' debt-to-income ratios and credit scores.

    "We are committed to increasing the transparency of the mortgage loans backing Ginnie Mae securities," comments Ginnie Mae president Ted Tozer. "Improving our securities disclosures helps us .......

    News Round-up 6 August 2013

  • Currency swap criteria updated

    Fitch has updated its criteria for rating currency swap obligations of an SPV in structured finance transactions and covered bond programmes. The updated criteria are not expected to result in rating actions.

    The key driver for the rating of swap obligations is the rating of the related reference notes. SPV obligations to swap counterparty and noteholders should and usually rank .......

    News Round-up 6 August 2013

  • MBS portfolio manager named

    Cerberus Capital Management has appointed Daniel Choquette as a mortgage portfolio manager in its MBS group. He was previously md and portfolio manager, US securitised mortgage products at Putnam Investments.

    .......

    Job Swaps 6 August 2013

  • Asset manager beefs up

    Douglas Charleston joined TwentyFour Asset Management last month as a portfolio manager. He has seven years of ABS structuring and fund management experience, most recently at Lloyds.

    Another recent addition to the team is Luca Beldi, who has been recruited as an analyst. He is a Masters graduate in economics from the University of Milan.

    In addition, the firm's heads .......

    Job Swaps 6 August 2013

  • Aussie swap risk highlighted

    Moody's notes in its latest Structured Thinking Asia Pacific publication that a number of Australian RMBS closed in or prior to 2007 are at risk of additional expected loss due to a high reliance on swap providers. Swap documentation for the affected deals don't have adequate remedial actions to reduce the likelihood of a transaction becoming unhedged upon the initial .......

    News Round-up 5 August 2013

  • Pending civil charges disclosed

    Bank of America has disclosed in an SEC quarterly filing that the US Department of Justice and other government agencies intend to recommend civil charges against it in connection with MBS. The bank says it has been in active discussions with senior staff of each government entity in connection with the respective investigations and to explain why the threatened civil .......

    Job Swaps 5 August 2013

  • STACR stacks up

    Risk-sharing programme to aid RMBS price discovery

    Freddie Mac upsized and priced its inaugural risk-sharing transaction last week (SCI 17 July). The structure was welcomed for protecting taxpayers from certain risks by transferring them to the private market, as well as for providing the GSEs with a way to achieve risk-based pricing of the guarantee fee.

    Importantly, the deal is expected to achieve this without affecting the .......

    News Analysis 2 August 2013
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