With employee counts shrinking and Wells Fargo exiting the correspondent channel, lenders reported an increase in margins in the second quarter.

Some industry stakeholders are portraying the proposed capital requirements on mortgage assets as an existential threat, one that might indirectly hurt independent nonbanks. But perhaps those fears are overblown.

Banks are in cost-cutting mode as high interest rates and looming changes to capital requirements have led to uncertainty in the mortgage market.

The Federal Trade Commission, Black Knight and Intercontinental Exchange have filed a joint stipulation for dismissal of FTC’s antitrust lawsuit.

The odds appear long but CEO/founder Vishal Garg told employees the magic moment will happen by the end of the month.

The rate of appraisals in high minority census tracts that were below the final contract price has fallen post the creation of the PAVE task force.

The first initiatives under the tie-up will center around industry training and consumer outreach.

In the purchase loans securitized by the agencies in the second quarter, the biggest gain was in GSE loans with no primary MI coverage. (Includes three data charts.)

The proposal would change risk weights for mortgages in bank portfolios based on LTV ratios. Close to 20% of mortgages not sold by banks in 2022 had LTV ratios for which higher capital requirements would apply.