Secondary Market

Ginnie Mae reported $29.23 billion in guarantees for mortgage-backed securities in March this year. The company found Ginnie Mae II single-family pools on the way up with more than $21.56 billion in guarantees, alongside Ginnie Mae I single-family pools that totaled more than $5.34 billion. Single-family issuance for March reached $27.78 billion, while issuance for Home Equity Conversion securities for Ginnie Mae II single-family pools arrived at $882 million for the month.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau issued a bulletin Friday reminding financial institutions that they may be held accountable for violations under contracted service providers. The agency said that banks and nonbank entities need to supervise their third-party vendors with due diligence, consistently request and review their internal controls and training materials, and establish clear expectations about compliance. The CFPB also called on financial institutions to adopt the internal controls necessary to supervise vendors.

The special inspector general for the Troubled Asset Relief Program released a damning report Thursday that said only 3 percent of the funds designated to the hardest-hit homeowners have reached their goals. The report found that only $217.4 million will have helped 30,640 homeowners by 2017, when the Hardest-Hit Fund expires. Seventy-eight percent of HHF funds went to unemployment assistance for homeowners, and nearly 98 percent went to the same or helped reinstate past due amounts, according to the report.

JPMorgan Chase reaped a net income of $461 million in first-quarter income from mortgage production and servicing, a slight change of pace from $1.1 billion seen in net losses last year. The bank said that the results came off 33 percent in application volume from the first quarter. Except for repurchase losses, revenue stemming from mortgage production climbed to $1.6 billion, up 80 percent from the previous year. Repurchase losses hovered at $302 million, a carry-over from $420 million in repurchase losses seen last year.

Democratic state attorneys general circulated a letter Thursday that called on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac ├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔé¼┼ô and their regulator ├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔé¼┼ô to move forward with principal reductions. FHFA Acting Director Edward DeMarco continues to resist calls by lawmakers and policymakers to implement new loan modifications for homeowners, stressing the agency├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔÇ×┬ós ├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├àÔÇ£preserve and conserve├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├é┬Ø mandate. Coakley and others were joined this week by International Monetary Fund Director Christine Lagarde.

Mortgage rates fell once more as economic worries accelerate on the heels of a disappointing jobs report and debt crises overseas, with rates for the 15-year fixed-rate mortgage slamming into new lows. Mortgage giant Freddie Mac found the 15-year loan cresting at 3.11 percent, a new all-time low below 3.13 percent seen in early March. Freddie also said that the 30-year loan yet again averaged 3.88 percent, down from 3.98 percent last week. The 5-year adjustable-rate mortgage fell from 2.86 percent to 2.85 percent, while the 1-year ARM went up to 2.80 percent from 2.78 percent.

First time claims for unemployment insurance jumped 13,000 to 380,000 for the week ended April 7, the Labor Department reported Thursday, the highest level since the end of January. At the same time the previous week's report was adjusted upward by 10,000, wiping out what had been a four-year low and showing an increase of 4,000 initial claims instead of an originally reported drop of 6,000 for the week ending in late March. Economists had expected initial claims would increase - from the original report - to 359,000. The week-over-week jump in first time claims was the second straight of the year.

Fannie Mae has approved a new underwriter for debt securities. Multi-Bank Securities, Inc., recently announced that it has now been added as part of Fannie├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔÇ×┬ós Access program. Michigan-based MBS operates as a fixed-income securities broker-dealer, and the company serves credit unions, banks, municipalities, and other institutions around the U.S. Through its underwriting activities, MBS also provides wholesale deposits to various financial institutions.

The economy continued to expand at a modest to moderate pace from mid-February through late March, the Federal Reserve said Wednesday in its periodic Beige Book. The central bank reported faster and solid growth in Kansas City and Minneapolis but moderate or modest growth in Boston, Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, San Francisco Cleveland, and St. Louis. New York reported economic growth picked up somewhat while Philadelphia and Richmond cited improving business conditions. Banking conditions remained stable, the Beige Book said, with modest improvements in demand for lending.

Ally Financial will soon take leave of mortgage broker-dealer activities and exit its share of the marketplace. The source said that Ally will honor all existing trades. Ally said that it will continue to operate broker-dealer activities in the insurance share of the marketplace. News outlets report that the federal government owns 74 percent of the company, the result of more than $17 billion in bailout money it received to withstand the financial crisis. Many reportedly expect Ally to file for bankruptcy for the Residential Capital mortgage subsidiary it owns.