Tag s Www e Lendersmortgagepayments ssearchasearchcsearchesearchWsearchw Background ussearcha Www chii Checks Ww Www a Background T Www Wsearchw Checks isearchea Checks csearchC Tag Criminal w Background search Lendersmortgagepayments a Criminal n Checks s asearchc Checks n¨ Criminal £ Tag ¡¡¡¡Asset securitization1 is a process of packaging illiquid individual loans and other debt instruments into liquid securities with credit enhancements to further their sale in the capital markets. Investment bankers' creativity has been the driving force behind the powerful revolution in a new era of structured finance. Securitized financing is one of the ways the global marketplace has grown, and has played an important role in the development of the derivatives market. Securitization generates fee income for bankers and provides them additional trading opportunities. Asset types used in securitization include mortgages, auto loans, credit card receivables, equipment leases, junk bonds, and tax liens.2 This chapter first describes the development of the market, which highlights how Wall Street responded to the challenges with incredible innovative thinking. Subsequent sections cover the major types of asset-backed securities. ¡¡¡¡Mortgage-backed securities3 are debt obligations with a pool of mortgages as collateral. They fall into the general category of asset-backed securities, which package a group of securities and offer investors access to the cash flows generated by the underlying securities. An individual investor earns interest in proportion to his stake in the entire pool. Therefore, an investment in a mortgage-backed security is not tied to any one mortgage. The firm that assembles the security takes a small fee and insures the pool against credit risk. One type of mortgage-backed security, the mortgage pass-throughs security,4 is identified by the fact that interest and principal payments are passed through to the holder, instead of just interest. Payments to investors are usually made on a monthly basis. ¡¡¡¡Mortgage backed securities are a relatively low-risk investment vehicle. Securities issued by the Government National Mortgage Association (Ginnie Mae)5 are particularly safe because they are backed by the full faith and credit of government. One downside to these investments is the risk of prepayment by borrowers, or paying back part or all of the loan before it becomes due, which can lower returns by reducing the interest paid on a given mortgage. ¡¡¡¡Bank of America issued the first triple-A-rated mortgaged-backed pass-throughs security in 1977. How to deal with the tax treatment of the first pass-troughs required creative thinking. John Quisenberry of Brown and Wood came up with the solution that relied on a flow-through of the tax attributes. The issue was a failure because at that time only l5 states accepted these AAA pass-throughs as a legal investment. The blue-sky laws offered no standing for a security of this type. Also, many institutional investors had self-imposed prohibitions on investing in these securities. ¡¡¡¡In the late 1970s, the banking industry experienced escalating disintermediation.6 Funds left depository institutions in pursuit of higher rates, since the regulated savings rates (Regulation Q)7 were not competitive with the free-market interest rates. On top of that, the yield curve inverted, which eroded thrifts' net worth resulting from borrowing short and lending long. The need for alternative sources of funding increased. Wall Street sought securitization, and Freddie Mac, as a federal agency stepped in to overcome the roadblocks to securitizing mortgages. The status of a federal agency provided the solution to the state and regulatory problems, since it is exempt from the state blue-sky laws8 and legal investment statutes. Securitization enabled Wall Street to repackage and sell a conventional loan product to public investors nationally. The mortgage pass-through market took off. |
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