The MSR remedy

Mortgages

As this year's first annual reports begin to be filed later this month, an important new chapter for many US mortgage banks begins. Mortgage servicing rights (MSRs), which are generated when a firm sells mortgages and retains servicing of the loans or enters into a contract to service the mortgages of a third party, have always caused a tremendous headache for risk managers. But last year, the US Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) offered a palliative in the form of Financial