Secondary

Additional mortgage-backed securities purchases by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York will address private investor skittishness about the asset class, but it will not necessarily lower rates.

It has all the trappings of a routine mortgage refinance closing. The mortgage broker, the lawyer and the homeowner, all signing off on the paperwork that will cut the interest rate on a home.

Mark Calabria said Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are currently equipped to handle elevated delinquencies, but they might need congressional or Federal Reserve help if fallout from the coronavirus persists.

The credit watch involves single-borrower securitizations of commercial mortgages for high-priced resorts in Florida and Hawaii.

A number of proposals have been floated for debt payment holidays and other types of moratoria, but such approaches offer solutions that are worse than the problems.

FHFA Director Mark Calabria said the health crisis will complicate the release of a proposal establishing new capital requirements for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

A proposal to tighten financial requirements for government-sponsored enterprise counterparties that sought to lower risk in a volatile market should be suspended, a group representing smaller lenders said, arguing it would aggravate current distress.

The Trump administration is considering a plan to allow homeowners whose income was cut by the coronavirus to delay mortgage payments. Still to be decided is a mechanism for borrowers to catch up.

Mortgage real estate investment trusts are taking stock of their financial ability to respond to market shocks and other concerns stemming from the coronavirus.

Canadian policymakers are escalating their efforts to backstop the nation’s financial system and ensure banks have plenty of room to continue lending through the coronavirus crisis.