The Institutional Risk Analyst

So why would a firm like CrossCountry or UWMC be a buyer of higher coupon MSRs?  The short answer is that they believe their ability to retain the borrower by recapturing a prepayment will offset the obvious negative of high prepayments that comes with a lower interest rate environment.  These firms, it seems, would rather try to recapture prepayments on higher rate MSRs than own lower coupons and benefit from the stable cash flow from the servicing.

The number of very late people running into Bitcoin and other tokens over the past year only makes us realize that there is nothing new in the world of finance. Had Jim Fisk and Jay Gould traded crypto tokens like Bitcoin over the past decade, they'd have gotten out in 2013.

President Trump will not try to fire Chairman Powell. Why not? First, because Powell cannot be removed save for malfeasance. Second, because firing Powell would seriously piss off Senate Republicans, killing Trump's hopes for tax legislation this year.

We think it is notable that AMP has underperformed the other members of the group other than SCHW over the past year.

The majority of the actual cash profit generated from residential lending is found in the mortgage servicing rights (MSRs).

Yes, that's right, we are going to downgrade $8 trillion in GSE MBS and hundreds of billions in corporate debt.

Notice that SQ co-founder Jack Dorsey styles himself as "block head" in the corp roster, a silly affectation that does not help the stock

Could President elect Donald Trump be facing a maxi market correction before inauguration day?

You can tell lies and damn lies about the idea of releasing Fannie and Freddie, but the SEC and FINRA cannot and will not say a word. 

NYCB and the unsold rent-stabilized assets left over from the failure of SBNY are two little surprises waiting for the next POTUS.

The Citi decision to exit mortgage servicing perhaps made sense in 2017, but today not so much.

Why should a private Fannie Mae be a 20% risk weight under Basel III, but PFSI or Mr. Cooper (COOP) are 100%?

Yellen's proposal for a backstop is merely a canard to help Treasury avoid another fiasco next time a Ginnie Mae issuer fails

Of note, PFSI has been growing share in wholesale, a direct challenge to UWMC

The survivors in mortgage finance optimize operations around purchasing loans from brokers/ correspondents, and direct to consumer (DTC)

If the run-of-the-mill Republic First interest rate mark is 13.3% of assets that is not just wiping out one bank’s 8% capital but also FDIC

Industry leaders believe that the FHFA wants the GSEs to offer issuers "repurchase insurance" to the tune of 25bps per loan.

Q: What do Silicon Valley Bank, First Republic Bank, Signature Bank and New York Community Bank have in common? Auditor, KPMG.

The key term for risk managers and investors in 2024 remains unchanged from this year: Volatility.

Simply stated, with T-bills trading significantly above the yield on RRPs, there is no reason for MMFs to leave cash at the Fed