Secondary

Single-family originations by commercial banks and savings institutions jumped 23% in the fourth quarter as refinancing activity accelerated from the prior period, according to new figures released by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

eWarehouseOne, Newport Beach, Calif., is exploring the idea of financing the purchase of mortgage servicing rights, a business that has been mostly dormant during the housing crisis.

Kinecta Federal Credit Union, Manhattan Beach, Calif., has opened a new mortgage loan center in Mission Valley, following the opening of another center in Rancho Penasquitos in December.

A proposed $8.5 billion Countrywide RMBS settlement has returned to New York state court in a move that has been largely expected to speed its approval, with Fitch Ratings now estimating it could move ahead in mid-2012.

The plan to decrease the government-sponsored enterprises' market share is "credit positive" for some parts of the market, such as stronger mortgage insurers, but "credit negative" for others, such as GSE debt, according to Moody's Investors Service.

Should Ally Financial Inc. break itself up, Ocwen Financial Corp. and private-equity shops might be interested in Ally's mortgaging servicing arm, Residential Capital LLC, which has mortgage servicing rights of $1.2 billion on mostly impaired loans, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Inc. analysts wrote in a research note last week.

CMBS performance still appears to be stabilizing somewhat, at least for the time being, recent commentary from Moody's Investors Service indicates.

Citigroup has finally unloaded the rest of its minority stake in the Mumbai-based Housing Development Finance Corp. as part of its capital planning efforts, but will continue other business relationships with the company including investment and cash management services.

Fannie Mae late Friday finally had something to say about Bank of America's announcement that it would no longer sell new purchase money loans to the GSE: it hopes to resolve the buyback disputes between the two parties.

Twenty-four hours after Bank of America told Fannie Mae to take a hike on secondary market purchases, the realization is starting to sink in that one party -- the GSE -- may stand to lose a lot more than the seller/servicer.