The Blackstone Group, which has been gobbling up mortgage banking franchises of late, may have its eye on the mortgage insurance space. But for now it does not appear that it plans to rebuild what’s left of PMI Mortgage insurance as a going concern. As usual, the investment banker is saying little about what it plans to do with its “strategic investment” in The PMI Group, a once top-ranked MI that was placed into receivership back in 2012. PMI isn’t talking either. The investment, revealed last week, was made through the Blackstone Tactical Opportunities Fund. When the announcement was first unveiled, both analysts and MI professionals were left...
As they approach their eighth year in conservatorship, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac generate a lot of revenue for the government and dominate the conventional-conforming mortgage market. But both government-sponsored enterprises are forced to hold less and less capital, and a bad quarter or two could force another round of bailouts. Aside from lawsuits by disgruntled GSE shareholders, pressure appears to be growing for a new approach that would allow the two to rebuild their capital. According to reports, Rep. Mick Mulvaney, R-SC, may introduce such a bill in one of the least hospitable places it could land, the House Financial Services Committee. As of press time Mulvaney’s office has not returned...
Concerns about litigation and various pricing issues have combined to suppress originations of non-qualified mortgages to borrowers who aren’t affluent, according to industry analysts. Since the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s ability-to-repay rule and QM standards took effect in early 2014, a certain portion of the non-QM market has held up fairly well: interest-only mortgages. However, the loans tend to be available solely for affluent borrowers, while non-QM originations for less-than-prime borrowers remain limited. Most non-QM lenders are targeting...
The Oct. 3, 2015, effective date for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s integrated disclosure rule is just weeks away, leaving the mortgage industry a shrinking window of time in which to convince members of Congress and the White House to provide regulatory relief. Although Republicans likely have enough votes to force a multi-prong regulatory relief bill through both chambers of Congress, the Obama administration appears to remain opposed, even if the White House has been sitting on the sidelines and completely disengaged. “On the TRID [implementation] extension, there’s...
The Mortgage Bankers Association ended its last fiscal year in the black with $7.7 million in net assets, a marked improvement from the negative $3.8 million it had when the year began. However, according to a review of MBA’s past tax returns by Inside Mortgage Finance, the trade group has its work cut out if it wants to return to the halcyon days before the housing bust when it boasted $63.3 million in net assets, a cushion that was depleted thanks to the industry’s downturn and a disastrous investment in a new headquarters building back in 2010. MBA officials continue...
Industry trade groups are calling for the withdrawal of a proposed servicing rule that would set new deadlines for filing FHA insurance claims and penalize lenders with termination of insurance coverage if they failed to comply. Banks, independent mortgage lenders and credit unions warn that FHA’s proposed changes to its claims regulations could result in higher interest rates, credit restrictions and lenders exiting from the FHA program. Such effects could be magnified in the hardest hit housing markets, particularly in states that have long foreclosure timelines or older housing stock. The FHA proposal addresses...
There is no doubt that nonbank mortgage lenders are as heavily regulated as banks when it comes to consumer protection, some industry executives say, but the level of scrutiny for safety and soundness may be higher for depository institutions. The Community Home Lenders Association asserts that nonbanks are subject to more consumer protections than banks and have virtually identical regulatory burdens imposed by product regulations such as those for the FHA, VA, Ginnie Mae, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. “While nonbanks are heavily regulated at the state level, they are...
Warehouse executives seem optimistic about the immediate outlook for the sector, though some expressed concern how a wave of M&A activity has reduced the number of potential clients.
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