New Freddie Deal Offers Subservicing.

The American Bankers Association, whose membership represents 90% of all banking assets in the U.S., has signed a secondary marketing agreement with Freddie Mac.

For ABA, it now has agreements with the three largest secondary market outlets for conforming loans. It previously reached agreements with Fannie Mae and the Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago to participate in the Mortgage Partnership Finance program. There are differences between all three agreements, said an ABA spokesman, but he was unable to elaborate on what those differences are.

Among the specifics of the alliance are an emphasis on developing stronger secondary marketing relationships to help banks manage mortgage portfolio risk, meeting Community Reinvestment Act requirements and providing a private-label subservicing option through Dovenmuhle Mortgage Inc.

The ABA spokesman said the group's members were looking for convenient access to the second market. Among those that will benefit most are those banks that do not have a large enough origination volume on their own. Freddie Mac spokesman Douglas Robinson concurred, saying, "The smaller lender ...