Secondary markets

As Rep. Scott Garrett seeks to pass the first significant financial reform law since the Dodd-Frank Act, a lot of forces are aligned against him.

Evidence of insufficient or misleading disclosures during RMBS sales will be a focus of the new Residential Mortgage-Backed Securities Working Group under President Obama's Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force, according Robert Khuzami, director of the SEC's division of enforcement.

One of the co-chairs of the new federal/state Residential Mortgage-Backed Securities Working Group is preparing to file cases in the next few weeks against Wall Street firms involved in the packaging and selling of MBS.

JPMorgan Chase late last week told a federal court in Wichita that NCUA's negligence suit against top executives of WesCorp Federal Credit Union proves it was the shortcomings of those executives - and not any misrepresentations by the Wall Street bank's sales force in the sale of MBS - that caused the failure of WesCorp and three other corporate credit unions.

Certain categories of specially serviced U.S. CMBS loans are likely to keep increasing through 2012, according to a recent Fitch Ratings report.

The new collaboration between the federal government and certain states to investigate pre-crisis mortgage fraud will have 55 dedicated attorneys, investigators, analysts and support staff, officials said Friday.

Bank of America is ready to unload yet another multi-billion package of mortgage servicing rights, according to bidders and industry advisors familiar with the bank's plans.

I watched the State of the Union speech Tuesday and came away thinking no real "mortgage" surprises tonight except for two: Obama not using the word "mortgage broker" once, and the formation of the DOJ fraud task force on securitizing loans. But what about the "The State of the Mortgage Union"?

There was "very solid demand" for Freddie Mac's $6.5 billion five-year Reference Notes security Friday, according to a Freddie Mac spokesman, who told this publication it was distributed in line with what the GSE has seen on other recent Reference Note deals.

Investors considering nonperforming loan purchases are increasingly concerned about title chains and finding related concerns that need to be cleaned up, according to a new manager at one vendor in this business.

Raising guarantee fees on government-backed loans again would make a "bad situation worse," according to three industry groups that are lobbying elected officials to find new ways of funding a 10-month extension of the payroll tax holiday.

Compliance and documentation go together like education and success. And, the latter is even more determined today by finding the missing pieces in the transaction chain.

Dynex Capital Inc., a real estate investment trust that buys agency and non-agency, residential and commercial mortgage-backed securities, has priced its 12.5 million share common stock offering at $9.12 per share, for gross proceeds of $114 million.

Amid lingering questions about the fate of a broad mortgage servicing settlement, many see the creation of a joint task force to probe mortgage abuses as hope that those negotiating the settlement can work out their differences.

Old Republic International Corp.'s mortgage guaranty business lost $163 million for the fourth quarter and $678 million for the year, 48% worse and 160% worse than the same periods one year ago, as claims costs intensified throughout the year.

ISGN increased its available cash flow with a $20 million secured line of credit obtained from JPMorgan Chase, the mortgage technology and fulfillment outsourcing vendor announced Wednesday.

The Federal Reserve will not sell any of its massive holdings of agency MBS and Treasuries until 2015 as it strives to keep interest rates low, central bank officials said Wednesday afternoon.

Delinquencies on mortgages controlled by Freddie Mac rose to 3.58% in December, the highest reading in nine months for the GSE, and a sign that it likely will continue to post operating losses in the immediate quarters ahead.

President Obama's decision to create a new task force to investigate risky lending and securitization practices leading up to the financial crisis could complicate and delay a potential $25 billion settlement involving foreclosure and servicing abuses.

GNMA chief Ted Tozer has been trying in vain to get more mortgage firms to issue MBS, but Wells Fargo & Co. continues to increase its grip on the government market.