Compliance & Regulation

The CMBS market paralleled broader markets last week with buyers preparing for quarter end. The spreads were roughly unchanged week-over-week as trading volume slowed, according to Bank of America Merrill Lynch analysts.

Moody's Investors Service is warning that it may downgrade Assured Guaranty Corp., Assured Guaranty Municipal Corp., and all affiliated insurance operating companies, an action that might make it difficult for the bond insurer to attract new business.

Bankrupt bond insurer Ambac Financial Group Inc. had a net loss of $963 million in the fourth quarter of 2011.

Phoenix-based Arizona State Credit Union said it has accepted 167 applications for the Home Affordable Refinance Program in its efforts to help underwater homeowners obtain more affordable mortgages.

Moody's Investors Service downgraded the senior and mezzanine structured-finance ratings on a 1999 series of single-family mortgage bonds issued by the Idaho Housing and Finance Association to A1 from Aaa and Aa2. The outlook is negative.

The loss of revenue from the naming rights of the Kodak Theatre is negatively impacting the commercial mortgage-backed security that includes a mortgage for the renamed Hollywood and Highland Center, according to a report last week by analysts at Deutsche Bank Securities.

The National Credit Union Administration late last week told a federal court Goldman Sachs & Co. violated an agreement between the two parties that suspended the running of the statute of limitations on mortgage-related securities claims related to the failures of U.S. Central FCU and WesCorp FCU while the two sides negotiated a settlement.

Al Siapno, a Border Patrol agent from San Diego and his wife Leila have pleaded guilty in a mortgage-fraud scam that involved at least 24 other people and several home loans throughout the county. The alleged perpetrators listed in a federal indictment overstated incomes, over-appraised home values and used other fraudulent means to obtain millions of dollars in mortgages.

If you're looking for the missing piece to the mortgage "deconsolidation" equation, its name is Wells Fargo. Never before in the annals of residential finance has one company amassed such an enormous market share in lending (27%) and servicing (20%).

Wells Fargo's origination business has been operating at full steam, keeping the company’s mortgage servicing assets well above a cap proposed under Basel III. A new servicer compensation system could resolve the issue, but something has to give.