Welcome to The S-Curve
Now you will be able to receive the latest announcements, product updates, and our insights on the mortgage market in real time.
The name of the blog, the S-Curve, is a reflection of our logo and the central feature of our prepayment model. S-curves are seen in nature in many phenomenon, from population growth to prepayment and default models. Our first S-curve, in the early 1990s, used the arctangent function, then piece-wise linear functions, and evolved over time to be more complex and vary by FICO, loan size and LTV. This evolution encapsulates both the timeless nature of fundamental relationships and constant innovation to describe them better over time.
We hope you find the information useful and we look forward to your feedback.
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Diversity Awareness Lifts all PeopleThoughts
To seek "causes" of poverty in this way is to enter an intellectual dead end because poverty has no causes. Only prosperity has causes. – Jane Jacobs, Activist and Author
Here at Andrew Davidson & Co., Inc. (AD&Co) we have been aware since our founding in 1992 that diversity of all kinds makes for a more interesting culture, a better exchange of ideas, and ultimately better products and services. However, for all of us, globally and in the U.S., there is still a long way to go. We are focused on increasing our sensitivity to diversity and unconscious bias and have made diversity outreach in recruiting, mentorship, vendors, charitable giving—indeed, in every aspect of our business a priority. We have been focused on the fact that every person deserves an equitable life. Our guiding principle is that we are all people and we all deserve to be treated equally.
This is especially relevant to issues of housing as AD&Co’s Richard Cooperstein has addressed in the article he co-authored with Ken Fears from the National Association of Realtors (NARS) and Susan Wachter of the Wharton School for Business, University of Pennsylvania, Government-Sponsored Enterprises: Their Viability as Public Utilities published in the journal “Housing Policy Debate,” Volume 31, 2021 - Issue 1: The Mortgage Market in the Time of COVID / Smart Cities, Housing, and Community Development Policy.
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Listen To Freddie Mac's Interview With Andy Davidson On Their Inaugural Single-family PodcastEvents
CRTcast, a new podcast series under Freddie Mac’s Home Starts Here programming, focuses on credit risk transfer (CRT) and it’s three spokes: securities, (re)insurance and mortgage insurance. Freddie Mac leadership together with CRT industry experts cover current and relevant topics.
In the inaugural episode, Single-Family CRT Vice President Mike Reynolds sits down with Andrew Davidson & Co., Inc, (AD&Co) founder Andy Davidson to talk all things risk intelligence, including planting the seeds of a GSE CRT market in 2010; and connecting with Freddie Mac to launch the first GSE CRT securities transaction in 2013.
Click here to listen to the podcast.
About Freddie Mac Single-Family Credit Risk Transfer
Freddie Mac’s Single-Family CRT programs transfer credit risk away from U.S. taxpayers to global private capital via securities and (re)insurance policies. The GSE Single-Family CRT market was founded when Freddie Mac issued the first STACR® (Structured Agency Credit Risk) notes in July 2013. In November 2013, ACIS® (Agency Credit Insurance Structure was introduced. Today, CRT serves as the primary source of private capital investment in residential mortgage credit. For specific STACR and ACIS transaction data, please visit Clarity, Freddie Mac’s CRT data intelligence portal.
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Richard Cooperstein named co-chair of the Structured Finance Association’s Regulatory Capital & Liquidity CommitteeNews
We are proud to announce that Richard Cooperstein has accepted the position of co-chair of the Structured Finance Association’s (SFA) Regulatory Capital & Liquidity committee.
“I am very pleased to be chosen to co-lead SFA’s Committee that is focused on rationalizing risk transfer for federally-connected institutions. Aligning the regulation of risk transfer with the economics can improve capital efficiency, lower borrowing costs and reduce taxpayer risk.” - Richard Cooperstein
SFA plays an essential role in Structured Finance by bringing thought leaders together to collaborate on ways to respond to timely events affecting the industry, finance and our world.
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Andrew Davidson & Co., Inc. Celebrates Lunar New YearNews
Today we acknowledge the Year of the Ox. Happy Lunar New Year! We stand in solidarity with the Asian community against all violence and racism. Here’s to a year of peace, health and prosperity.
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Andrew Davidson & Co., Inc. Celebrates Black History MonthNews
This February, AD&Co celebrates a central part of American History—Black History. The richness of the contributions of the Black community as a whole, and innumerable remarkable individuals, can not be overstated.
The S-Curve Archives
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News
As housing faces more climate threats that result in more losses, the insurance program that it sits on is teetering on the brink of collapse. Yet, the home insurance market has three distinct stakeholders that have competing priorities, and today, there is no motivation for a collaborative solution.
Understanding how to strengthen and protect the current structure requires looking at the cost burdens along with the risk for each of those parties.
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ThoughtsThere has been a flurry of activity in the mortgage markets since the 2018 passage of the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act. This act requires the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA, now known as US Federal Housing) to validate and modernize the credit score models used in the housing finance system. It should be noted that so far, the discourse has been around mortgages sold to the Enterprises (Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac). Ginnie Mae has not provided any guidance on their plans to start using new credit score models.
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EventsAndrew Davidson & Co., Inc (AD&Co) proudly sponsored IMN’s 11th Annual Mortgage Servicing Rights (MSR) Forum by Informa at the New York Hilton Midtown. Senior modeler Daniel Swanson joined the “Managing Delinquencies & Forbearance Value” panel in discussing how servicers are adapting to today’s market and the evolving delinquency trends.
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PodcastTune in to our fourth episode of AD&Conversations with Kevin Lin and Eknath Belbase, our product lead for our Climate model. In this episode, they discuss the new Climate Impact Suite (CIS) pilot project, and Belbase outlines several challenges the team is navigating, including:
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Podcast
Tune in to our fourth episode of AD&Conversations with Kevin Lin and Eknath Belbase, our product lead for our Climate model. In this episode, they discuss the new Climate Impact Suite (CIS) pilot project, and Belbase outlines several challenges the team is navigating, including:
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Podcast
Andrew Davidson was invited to speak on Equifax's Market Pulse Podcast titled, "Driving Efficiency and Resilience in the Mortgage Industry" live at the 2025 MBA Annual Convention in Las Vegas.
Andy explains how variations in data files can distort risk assessment, creating a dual risk for lenders: extending credit to borrowers more likely to default while overcharging customers whose risk is overstated.
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ThoughtsOur latest Policy Perspective written by Richard Cooperstein offers an analysis of the U.S. housing and mortgage finance markets, focusing on key trends and forward-looking risks. While housing markets are not fully efficient, they do respond to economic imbalances which create opportunities and vulnerabilities. This article explores how demographic shifts, credit access, interest rates, and climate risks shape both housing demand and supply.
Key findings include:
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Podcast
Join Kevin Lin in a conversation with Richard Cooperstein as they dive into Kinetics, AD&Co's modular platform designed to deliver the full power of our models and analytics; with the flexibility to license only the tools you need.
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Thoughts
The latest Policy Perspectives paper “Competing Claims in Privatization of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac” is now available!
Nearly 20 years ago, on September 6, 2008, the GSEs, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac entered conservatorship. Since that time there have been many proposals to restructure, eliminate or release the GSEs. Once again there is talk about the privatization of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
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ThoughtsAD&Co held our annual employee meeting in Detroit, Michigan. In addition to gathering everyone in person to socialize and strategize, we use these annual meetings to learn about different cities, especially with regard to housing market dynamics.
We chose Detroit because the oft-maligned city is undergoing a significant renaissance, and we wanted to explore the area and learn how housing may have played a role in both Detroit’s decline and rebirth.