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Mortgage ABCs

Sidebar to "No Compromise"

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January 1, 2011 • Reprints

There are two primary forms of mortgage backed securities (MBS). Agency MBS are guaranteed by a government agency or government-sponsored enterprise such as Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac, while non-agency MBS are issued by banks and financial companies not associated with a government agency. These securities have no credit guarantee other than the quality of the loans behind them, and any other structural credit protection provided by the terms of the bond deal they belong to. The richest opportunities in the space are currently in the latter category, as much non-agency paper have lost their ratings and trade at steep discounts. The best way to access the investment is through mutual funds that specialize in the MBS market.

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About the Author
Ben Warwick, Quantitative Equity Strategies

Ben Warwick, Quantitative Equity Strategies

Veteran investment strategist Ben Warwick brings 20 years of investment management expertise to AdvisorOne.com in his blog, Searching for Alpha. His market and economic insights provide readers with an insider’s view on generating alpha through asset allocation, the use of strategic portfolio “tilts” and alternative investments.

Ben Warwick founded Quantitative Equity Strategies (QES) in 2002 as a platform for implementing his quantitative investment strategies. The firm manages assets with traditional long-only equity and fixed income, private equity, managed futures and alternative investment mandates. QES has developed an industry leading expertise in building investment programs that can replicate alternative returns, while offering daily liquidity and transparency. These products include the HFRq, a hedge fund replication strategy developed in concert with Hedge Fund Research in Chicago; the Managed Futures Beta Index, with Aspen Partners; and the Nomura QES Modeled Private Equity Returns Index (PERI), which was developed with Nomura Bank and Preqin, the leading source of information in the private equity industry.    

He is the author of several books, including "Searching for Alpha: The Quest for Exceptional Investment Performance," (Wiley, 2000) and "The Handbook of Managed Futures," with Carl Peters, (McGraw-Hill, 1996).  He can be reached at ben@qesinvest.com.

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