GNMA to Modernize Management of Loan Docs that Serve as Pool Collateral. Ginnie Mae plans to reform its document custody policies to minimize agency risks. Michael Drayne, Ginnie’s senior vice president of issuer and portfolio management, said the changes will apply to documents for loans that serve as collateral for securitized pools of mortgages. Current policies will be reexamined to see whether they adequately reflect and mitigate actual risks. Existing technology will be reevaluated as well. Ginnie will also study how to integrate document-custody functions and information into the agency’s systems. In addition, Ginnie will look at whether information about the status of pool collateral should be managed at the loan level, not merely the pool level. Furthermore, the agency will reevaluate the need to reexamine its enforcement methods and whether they should be ...

From the beginning of 2014 through the end of 1Q15, roughly 16 percent of the loans securitized by Fannie and Freddie had DTI ratios exceeding 43 percent...

The MBA took particular aim at the proposed enhanced standards for large nonbank servicers, noting that such firms are already subject to extensive regulation from the GSEs and others.

Now that the Supreme Court has ruled, the next question becomes: How much will this cost the industry in added compliance spending?

The sale is expected to close in late August or September and requires the approval of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae, among others.

Franklin Codel of Wells Fargo noted that while it’s a challenging time in the economy and for lenders, many agree that quality and clarity of who owns the risk matters.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau boosted Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac business by some $132.9 billion when it gave the two government-sponsored enterprises a free pass on the debt-to-income ratio requirements of the qualified-mortgage rule. For the non-agency world, a qualified mortgage has to have a DTI ratio of 43 percent or less. While the government-insured market has its own QM rules that effectively ignore DTI, a loan eligible for sale to the GSEs is considered a qualified mortgage if it meets all the QM criteria – such as no interest-only payments – other than the DTI cap. From the beginning of 2014 through the end of the first quarter of this year, about 16.3 percent of the loans securitized by Fannie and Freddie had...[Includes two data tables]

Most segments of the mortgage industry were relieved to get a two-month reprieve from the effective date of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s integrated disclosures rule under the Truth in Lending Act and the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act. The bureau this week formally proposed to move the effective date of the controversial new rule from Aug. 1 to Oct. 3. The CFPB said some delay is necessary because it was late in notifying Congress and the Government Accountability Office within 60 days of the rule’s effective date, as is required by the Congressional Review Act. Many in the mortgage industry still want...

The sale of RoundPoint Mortgage Servicing has fallen apart with the bidder walking away from the table, according to industry advisors close to the transaction. Sources indicate that Tavistock Group, the owner of the nation’s 24th largest servicer, still has an interest in finding a buyer for the servicer/lender, but for now no deal is imminent. Tavistock bills itself as an international private-equity firm with a strong interest in finance, real estate and other sectors. The firm is headquartered in the Bahamas. An advisor close to the transaction declined...

Basel III capital requirements for mortgage servicing assets started to take effect in the first quarter of 2015, with full implementation slated for 2018. Smaller banks were impacted by new servicing capital rules much more so than larger banks in the first quarter, according to industry analysts. Previously, a bank’s servicing could contribute up to 50 percent of a bank’s total capital. Under the new Basel framework, mortgage servicing assets are limited to 10 percent of a bank’s common equity Tier 1 capital. MSA in excess of the 10 percent threshold must be deducted from common equity. “Despite the fact that changes to servicing capitalization have been telegraphed to the market as early as 2010, a disproportionate number of small banks appear...