Tag Archives: Mortgage-Backed Securities

October marked the second straight month of growth for the portfolio, which has contracted for seven of 2014's first 10 months. Year-to-date, the portfolio has shrunk at an average annualized rate of 0.8 percent.

Two of the country's biggest banks have agreed to pay tens of millions of dollars to settle a suit claiming they failed to protect investors of mortgage-backed securities (MBS) in the wake of the subprime crash.

According to Fannie Mae, the increase was driven primarily by lower fair value losses and an increase in revenues. Also contributing to the third-quarter boost in profits was a recently announced settlement between Goldman Sachs and the GSEs' conservator, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), over faulty residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS).

The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System today announced that its asset purchase program, known as QE3 (quantitative easing) will end this month, citing sufficient economic growth.

Freddie Mac's mortgage portfolio grew in September, marking the second month of positive growth in the year's first nine months.

Representatives from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and Ginnie Mae convened at the second annual Ginnie Mae Summit on September 22 to discuss initiatives and programs designed to create a healthy housing market.

More than two years after the central bank kick off its latest economic stimulus program, policymakers at the Federal Reserve once again voted this week to scale down monthly asset purchases—and hinted that the end is in sight.

In a settlement announced Friday, HSBC agreed to pay $550 million to FHFA to resolve allegations it violated state and federal securities laws in its selling of private-label securities to the GSEs between 2005 and 2007. HSBC stopped issuing and distributing MBS in 2007.

Morgan Stanley has agreed to pay $95 million to settle a lawsuit alleging that the New York City-based financial services giant misled investors in mortgage-backed securities prior to the financial crisis of 2008, according to New York federal court papers.

The securities "would combine the best features of each of the current securities," such that "the security would have the superior pooling features of the current Fannie Mae securities and the superior disclosure features of the Freddie Mac securities," according to the Urban Institute.