As the senior vice president of FIG Partners, LLC, Brian Zwerner engages with U.S. financial institutions in optimizing securities investment performance. Brian Zwerner has extensive knowledge of fixed-income sales and trading, including holdings involving diverse types of mortgage securities.

2.  As the senior vice president of FIG
Partners, LLC, Brian Zwerner engages
with U.S. financial institutions in optimizing
securities investment performance. Brian
Zwerner has extensive knowledge of
fixed-income sales and trading, including
holdings involving diverse types of
mortgage securities.

3.  One common mortgage instrument is the
pass-through security. The issuer collects
money each month from borrowers, and
the loans are held within a specific pool.
Investors are then are paid out their
allocated cash, after guarantee and
servicing fees from the issuer have been
deducted. The majority of pass-throughs
are backed by fixed-rate mortgage loans.
A minority are constructed from adjustable
rate loans. Another variety of mortgage
security is the Collateralized Mortgage
Obligation (CMO).

4.  A CMO is created by grouping together
mortgage pools with similar characteristics. The
principal and interest payments on the
underlying pools are then allocated to different
tranches issued by the CMO structure. Typically
one or more tranches with more stable cash
flows are balanced by tranches with more
volatile cash flows. The stable cash flow
securities, often called Planned Amortization
Classes (PAC) or Sequentials, are sold to banks
and insurance companies. The more volatile
cash flow securities, often called support
bonds, are sold to investment firms and hedge
funds targeting a higher yield potential.