SYDNEY, Nov 17 (Reuters) - The Australian government has chosen another two residential mortgage backed securities in which to invest A$1 billion ($641 million), as part of an effort to inject much-needed liquidity into the non-bank home loan market.
The Australian Office of Financial Management (AOFM) said it would invest A$500 million in each of the two offers, as part of its A$8 billion RMBS purchase plan.

One was an issue from Challenge Mortgage Management, led by Royal Bank of Scotland, Commonwealth Bank of Australia and Macquarie Bank. The other was from RESIMAC, and would be led by National Australia Bank and Barclays Bank.
The first issue under the new plan from Members Equity was priced on Monday. The top rated tranche of the A$600 million offer went at 130 basis points over the bank bill swap rate.
A request for proposals for the second selection round is expected to be issued in late November. This will be for RMBS issues to be completed by February or March, 2009.
Non-bank lenders have suffered greatly since the U.S. subprime mortgage crisis because they are reliant solely on the securitisation market to fund operations.

($1=A$1.56)

(Reporting by Wayne Cole; Editing by James Thornhill) Keywords: AUSTRALIA/BONDS (wayne.cole@reuters.com ; +61 2 9373 1813; Reuters Messaging: wayne.cole.reuters.com@reuters.net )

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