Monday, December 13, 2010

Yves Smith gives Five Rules for Private Label Mortgage Securitization

They are:


1. Mortgages must be seasoned 12 months before they can be securitized
2. The originator must retain at least a 5% interest in the credit risk of the assets sold
3. The interest of all parties to a transaction must clearly be disclosed, along with their fees
4. Re-securitizations (meaning CDOs) are severely restricted (note a disconnect here; the e-mailed and verbal reports suggested they were banned entirely; the language at the FDIC website seems to indicate that they are allowed in limited circumstances, but any use of synthetic assets, meaning credit default swaps, in a asset-backed CDO is verboten)
5. Compensation to servicers will include incentives for loss mitigation
The mortgage securitization industry apparently opposed this, which is odd, in light of the fact that it is doubtful securitization will return in the absence of such rules.