Tag Archives: Mortgage-Backed Securities

New Jersey federal court documents filed earlier this week revealed that Prudential Insurance Co. has moved to settle its ongoing lawsuits with Bank of America NA, Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc., First Franklin Financial Group, and a number of lenders in the mortgage industry. The suits, which were first filed in March 2013, alleged Bank of America and others knowingly sold Prudential $2.1 billion in low-quality mortgage-backed securities—and made false statements about them.

The U.S. Department of Justice sued Bank of America in August 2013, accusing the bank's Countrywide division of misrepresenting the mortgage-backed securities it sold to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in the years leading up to the financial crisis through a program known as the High Speed Swim Lane (HSSL, commonly known as "Hustle").

Nomura and the Royal Bank of Scotland, also a defendant in the case, are the first two financial institutions out of 18 sued by the FHFA in 2011 that failed to reach a settlement and took the case to trial. FHFA sued the 18 institutions to recoup U.S. taxpayer costs following the government's $188 billion bailout of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in 2008, after which the government seized control of both Enterprises.

Fannie Mae's total Book of Business, which includes the gross mortgage portfolio plus the total Fannie Mae mortgage-backed securities and other guarantees less the Fannie Mae mortgage-backed securities in the portfolio, decreased at a compound annualized rate of 0.1 percent in February, down to $3.1214 trillion. It was the second consecutive month of contraction for Fannie Mae's Book of Business after expanding for three out of four months between September and December.

The DOJ filed a motion to have the lawsuit dismissed in May 2014, and Judge Beryl A. Howell of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia accepted the motion, claiming the plaintiff did not have sufficient grounds to sue the Justice Department.

December's compound annualized rate decline of 26.4 percent for the gross mortgage portfolio was the eighth-highest rate for any one month since the Federal Housing Finance Agency's conservatorship of Fannie Mae began in September 2008. The highest rate of decline occurred in January 2010, when it dropped by 44.8 percent.

The mortgage portfolio expanded by 4.5 percent—an increase of $7.14 billion—up to an estimated $1.91 trillion in December. It was the highest annualized growth rate for any one month seen in Freddie Mac's portfolio since December 2009, when it grew by 5.7 percent.

Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) may have to pay additional penalties to settle claims that it sold faulty U.S. mortgage-backed securities in the years leading up to the housing market crash, according to a report from Reuters.

The balance of Fannie Mae's gross mortgage portfolio dropped from $436 billion in October down to $424 billion in November, marking the 52nd time in the last 53 months Fannie Mae's portfolio declined month-over-month. With the exception of December 2012, when the portfolio grew in value at a compound annualized rate of 1 percent, the value of the portfolio has declined every month since June 2010.

According to Freddie's monthly volume summary, released Monday, the company's total portfolio ended November at an estimated $1.9 trillion, up an annualized 0.4 percent. Year-to-date, the portfolio's growth rate is an average -0.7 percent, the result of six straight months of declines through the year's first half and an additional month of contraction in August.