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Six federal agencies have issued a notice revising a proposed rule requiring sponsors of securitization transactions to retain risk in those transactions. The new proposal revises a proposed rule the agencies issued in 2011 to implement the risk retention requirement in the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.

Overview

This proposal was issued jointly by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Federal Housing Finance Agency, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, and the Securities and Exchange Commission. The rule would provide asset-backed securities, or ABS, sponsors with several options to satisfy the risk retention requirements. The original proposal generally measured compliance with the risk retention requirements based on the par value of securities issued in a securitization transaction and included a so-called premium capture provision. The agencies are now proposing that risk retention generally be based on fair value measurements without a premium capture provision.

As required by the Dodd-Frank Act, the proposal would define “qualified residential mortgage,” or QRM, and exempt securitizations of QRMs from risk retention. The new proposal would define QRMs to have the same meaning as the term qualified mortgages as defined by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The new proposal also requests comment on an alternative definition of QRM that would include certain underwriting standards in addition to the qualified mortgage criteria.

Similar to the original proposal, under the new proposal, securitizations of commercial loans, commercial mortgages, or automobile loans of low credit risk would not be subject to risk retention. Further, the rule would recognize the full guarantee on payments of principal and interest provided by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac for their residential mortgage-backed securities as meeting the risk retention requirements while Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are in conservatorship or receivership and have capital support from the U.S. government. This provision also is unchanged from the original proposal.

Reaction

The American Bankers Association president and CEO Frank Keating said “We applaud the proposed Qualified Residential Mortgage rule released by federal regulators today. Gratefully, the proposed rule aligns the QRM definition with the existing Qualified Mortgage rule. This will encourage lenders to continue offering carefully underwritten QM loans, including those with lower down payments. As a result, it will help the economy and ensure the largest number of creditworthy borrowers are able to access safe, quality loan products at competitive prices.”

SEC Commissioner Daniel M. Gallagher said “The re-proposed risk retention rules, if adopted, will ensure that the vast majority of mortgages in the United States are insured or owned by the government, will introduce another flawed government imprimatur of creditworthiness into the markets, and will disincentivize proper risk management and due diligence in the mortgage markets.  It is unfortunate that, even with the financial crisis still so fresh in the collective memory of policymakers and taxpayers, regulators seem determined to repeat the mistakes of the past.”

New SEC Commissioner Michael S. Piwowar said “I am not able to support the release in the form approved because the reproposal does not contain necessary economic analyses and does not adequately consider alternatives to credit risk retention requirements or the interplay between those requirements and other regulatory reforms.”

SEC Commissioner Kara M. Stein, also newly minted, said “I support the re-proposal of these rules implementing the credit risk retention requirements set forth in the Dodd-Frank Act.  Ensuring the integrity of a robust, fair and transparent securitization market is vitally important to the businesses and families that rely on these markets.”

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