Capital markets

Regulators and a Home Loan bank have asked First Horizon National Corp. for information about some of its securitizations.

Just when Redwood Trust was starting to look a bit like the Maytag repairman of the jumbo MBS market, we began to hear reports this week that two top 10 ranked banks are working on jumbo deals - for later in the year.

The growing number of community banks starting warehouse lending programs has to be gratifying to the executives at Titan Lenders Corp., Denver. It was just three years ago they were so concerned about the future of this business they called for Troubled Asset Relief Program funds to fill the need.

Republic Mortgage Insurance Co. has been placed under supervision by the North Carolina Department of Insurance, its parent company Old Republic International Corp. announced.

Warehouse lending is becoming less popular with some of the big players who have provided it, but remaining and new market participants find it can be profitable if they can get comfortable with the credit.

SunTrust Banks Inc. beat expectations for fourth-quarter earnings on stronger lending, but mortgage-repurchase costs and a drop in debit-card fees overshadowed the good news.

It appears that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are starting to see their market shares erode. The same might be said of the Government National Mortgage Association.

The overall characteristics of jumbo mortgages backing Redwood Trust's latest RMBS are consistent with "high-quality underwriting," according to an unsolicited review of the deal conducted by Standard & Poor's.

Ginnie Mae is in the process of hiring at least 40 new employees which would increase the secondary market agency's staff by one-third.

Warehouse lending is becoming less popular with some of the big players who have provided it, but remaining and new market participants find it can be profitable if they can get comfortable with the credit.

CUNA Mutual Group this week filed suit against RBS Securities, asking a federal court in Madison, Wisc. to order the Wall Street bank to buy back $72 million of failed residential MBS it sold to the credit union insurer's MEMBERS's Life Insurance Co., and CUMIS Insurance Society units.

The latest Freddie Mac economic forecast predicts the housing recovery will be delayed as long as there remains a large gap between buyer and seller sentiment.

Some of the first 2012 deals done through some of the agencies' more recently added multifamily programs are hitting the market and so far it looks like another strong year for these types of bonds.

Remember that 10 basis point increase in g-fees that will pay for the payroll tax break (at least until February 28)? Well, guess what? It appears that some lenders and secondary market investors are hiking their rates a lot more than 10 bps, or so we're told.

Mortgage loan application volume increased by an astounding 23.1% on a seasonally adjusted basis for the week ended Jan. 13, as interest rates on three varieties of fixed-rate loans hit all-time lows, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. The results for the current survey include an adjustment to account for the New Year's Day holiday.

Freddie Mac hopes to issue more Mortgage Linked Amortizing Notes similar to the one it priced late last week.

Citigroup repurchased 6,800 residential loans in 2011, an 80% jump from 2010 with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac accounting for the lion's share of those buybacks, according to figures released Tuesday.

Among the ramifications of paying for the tax cut extension by hiking agency guarantee fees in April could be upward pressure on consumer rates and an improvement in mortgage-backed securities prepayments.

Some banks might be skittish about selling nonperforming loans in bulk, but the market clearly likes it when banks shed problems en masse.

The National Association of Insurance Commissioners' capital designation prices for year-end 2011 show a modest average decline that should have a limited but nuanced effect on the securitized non-agency market, a Barclays report suggests.