As the mortgage lending industry continues to brace for qualified mortgage lending versus non-QM lending, and with the new qualified residential mortgage standard about to be put into play, it’s important lenders remember they don’t have to originate QM or QRM loans. “There is no legal requirement under [Dodd-Frank] to make QM or QRM loans,” Laurence Platt, a partner with the K&L Gates law firm in Washington, DC, told participants during a recent webinar sponsored by Inside Mortgage Finance, an affiliated newsletter...

The Federal Reserve Office of Inspector General, which also serves as the IG for the CFPB, took the unusual step of entering a public policy debate and challenged the assertion by the Bipartisan Policy Center that it doesn’t have adequate investigative and reporting powers related to the bureau. In its recent report on the CFPB, the center and its Task Force on Consumer Protection said, “The bureau should have all of the other trademarks of accountability that independent bank regulators share. The Dodd-Frank Act contains...

The CFPB spent $13.2 million over the last two fiscal years on various, and at times controversial, data collection activities, according to documentation the bureau sent to the leadership of the House Financial Services Committee. When CFPB Director Richard Cordray appeared before the House Financial Services Committee on Sept. 16, he got an earful from chairman Jeb Hensarling, R-TX, for dozens of answers the congressman said he never got from Deputy Director Steven Antonakes related to the bureau’s data collection...

A rebound in asset securitizations backed by car loans, dealer financing and credit cards fueled a solid 9.9 percent increase in non-mortgage ABS issuance during the third quarter of 2013, according to a new analysis and ranking by Inside MBS & ABS. A total of $42.00 billion of non-mortgage ABS were issued during the third quarter, reversing a sharp decline in new issuance during the previous three-month period. It lifted total production for the first nine months of 2013 to $127.34 billion, a 14.7 percent increase over the same period last year. The biggest component in the market has been...[Includes two data charts]

Lenders continue to originate non-agency jumbo mortgages, but few are likely to be securitized in the coming months due to more favorable economics for banks retaining the loans in portfolio. Longer term, many investors suggest they won’t return to the non-agency mortgage-backed security market until issuers standardize their offerings. The ABS East conference sponsored by Information Management Network last week in Miami presented a tale of two markets: jumbo MBS and everything else ...

The jumbo mortgage-backed security market showed some signs of life this week as Shellpoint Partners offered its second deal of the year, a restructured and downsized version of the transaction targeted for late September. The $250.85 million deal is set to receive a triple-A rating with credit enhancement of 7.10 percent on the top-rated tranche, according to Kroll Bond Rating Agency. The $308.64 million deal Shellpoint was preparing in September was set to have credit enhancement of 7.90 percent ...

First Republic Bank was the top contributor to jumbo mortgage-backed securities through the first three quarters in 2013, according to a new ranking and analysis by Inside Nonconforming Markets. Meanwhile, underwriting trends for the sector were mixed. Some $2.10 billion in originations by First Republic were included in jumbo MBS this year, as of the end of September. The loans accounted for 17.2 percent of all non-agency jumbos securitized, more than double the next closest lender ... [Includes two data charts]

Opposition to lower loan limits for the government-sponsored enterprises appears to be increasing by the day as the Federal Housing Finance Agency considers the issue. Support from non-agency participants for a reduction – at least in the high-cost loan limits – has been proportional to the non-agency share of total mortgage originations: about one in 10. “My sense is that there will never be a good time to reduce the conforming loan limit,” said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics ...

The strength of the non-agency jumbo market is a major factor in efforts to reduce the government-sponsored enterprises’ market share, according to a former advisor for the Obama administration. “If the GSEs pull back too quickly, it will change the whole discussion,” said Jim Parrott, owner of Falling Creek Advisors and a senior advisor at the National Economic Council until earlier this year. “The political feedback will be very quick and ruthless. It would make GSE reform extremely difficult.” ...

Fannie Mae priced its first capital markets risk-sharing transaction this week, attracting even more investors than those that initially bought into a similar transaction from Freddie Mac. While non-agency mortgage-backed security investors haven’t shown significant interest in jumbo MBS recently, many are looking toward the government-sponsored enterprises’ risk-sharing deals. “There is voracious investor demand for risk-sharing,” said Randal Johnson, a director in the structured credit group at Deutsche Bank ...