CFPB Director Richard Cordray last week informed bureau staff that he is resigning. He made no mention of his future plans, but it has been widely expected for months, if not years, that he would run for governor of Ohio. Cordray is the first officially named and confirmed director of the bureau, but he encountered controversy from the start, as President Obama tried to make him a recess appointment, which was later declared to be an unconstitutional move on Obama’s part. However, the Democrat-controlled Senate at the time reaffirmed the president’s selection of Cordray, rendering various legal challenges moot. He was preceded at the helm by Raj Date, who served as a special advisor after being chosen by then-Harvard professor ...
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac set aside a combined $1.9 billion to cover potential losses to MBS collateral from the powerful hurricanes that slammed the U.S. and its territories this fall. Ginnie Mae, meanwhile, hasn’t issued an update on affected loans in several weeks, but the government guarantor is trying to stay optimistic.
The Federal Reserve Board’s Community Advisory Council and the Board of Governors said the current mortgage finance system doesn’t provide fair access to large segments of the population.They also noted that there’s a critical need to resolve the ongoing conservatorship. Members of the two groups held their semiannual joint meeting earlier this month and discussed the need to reform the housing finance market so that low to -moderate income borrowers aren’t left out.The council talked about the need to disaggregate economic data to understand the disparities that exist in mortgage lending, especially among minority groups.
Fannie Prices $1.2B CAS Deal. Fannie priced its seventh credit risk-sharing transaction of 2017 under its Connecticut Avenue Securities program. CAS Series 2017-C07, a $1.161 billion note offering, is scheduled to settle on Nov. 21, 2017, and is the final deal of the year. It was met with strong investor demand, including new investors, according to Laurel Davis, Fannie’s vice president of credit risk transfer. “Investors continue to provide us with positive feedback on the transparency we provide as part of our CAS program, including our response to recent hurricane events and the information we make available in Data Dynamics, our analytical tool for investors. We expect to continue regular benchmark issuance of CAS notes in 2018, subject as always to market conditions.”