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mb666
AmphipathicA MBS are not derivative, it's a pool of asset (mortgages) that has been securitized.

Not sure if you're joking...

But yes MBS are backed by other assets (mortgages) and therefore are derivatives.

No, I am not joking. An MBS is a type of ABS, and therefore a security, not a derivative. The definition for securitization makes it sound like a derivative, but it's not. You actually own the debt, it's not a forward commitment or contingent claim.

 

Plain vanilla MBS= No. Why, you may ask. Since it is bundled into a bond and the holders receive payments.

When splitting up a MBS into tranches and selling them off= CMO, then it becomes a derivative.

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Working9-5Plain vanilla MBS= No. Why, you may ask. Since it is bundled into a bond and the holders receive payments.

When splitting up a MBS into tranches and selling them off= CMO, then it becomes a derivative.

Hmm, I still think that a CMO is a debt instrument, not a derivative. It is just a different way of bundling the debt.

 

Ok, set things straight.

MBS not derivative.

Technically, all CMOs are derivatives although you will not hear a CMO trader say they are a "derivatives trader". Occasionally you will hear CMO trader say that he trades "CMO derivatives" and that means that he traders IO, PO, and IOS (not fixed/floating CMOs) --but he is most likely when asked to say "I trade structured IOs for blank" or "I trade the trust IO book for..."

This is the same for the rest of the mortgage products even if they are derivatives (ie the CMBX trader would not say he is a derivatives trader, he would say that he is a CMBX trader. Same for the ABX trader)

"Greed, in all of its forms; greed for life, for money, for love, for knowledge has marked the upward surge of mankind. And greed, you mark my words, will not only save Teldar Paper, but that other malfunctioning corporation called the USA."
 

Found this on the web: http://www.clevelandfed.org/research/Commentary/1995/0901.pdf ... says that CMOs are indeed financial derivatives.

With regards to MBS I was wrong. They don't seem to be derivatives. This can be an issue of semantics as I see asset-backed securities and the term derivatives combined all across the web... like here: http://derivativedribble.wordpress.com/2009/02/02/credit-default-swaps-….

 

That's because there were lots of CDS contracts written on MBS securities. The CDS is the derivative, the original MBS is not.

"Greed, in all of its forms; greed for life, for money, for love, for knowledge has marked the upward surge of mankind. And greed, you mark my words, will not only save Teldar Paper, but that other malfunctioning corporation called the USA."
 

Correct. Once you carve up the cash flows it becomes a derivative.

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