The Obama administration is working to reform the government-sponsored enterprises but has said little publicly about its efforts for political reasons, according to a former advisor for the administration. As for when Congress might pass GSE reform, predictions range from as soon as next year to sometime after Obama’s presidency, if at all. Speaking at the ABS East conference sponsored by Information Management Network this week in Miami, Jim Parrott, owner of Falling Creek Advisors and a senior advisor at the National Economic Council until earlier this year, said the Obama administration has largely avoided publicly pushing GSE reform since releasing a white paper on the issue in 2011 due to concerns about reactions from Republicans in Congress. “The administration has been quite involved...

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac plan to test parts of a common securitization platform under development by year-end, according to an official at the Federal Housing Finance Agency. The FHFA separately announced this week what it deemed to be “significant steps” for the government-sponsored enterprises’ planned CSP. A year-and-a-half after the federal regulator announced the project, the platform remains a nebulous goal that GSE officials hope to make exceedingly encompassing and flexible. Speaking this week at the ABS East conference in Miami sponsored by Information Management Network, Wanda de Leo, deputy director of the FHFA’s office of strategic initiatives, said...

The Mortgage Bankers Association last week won affirmation of its July victory over the Department of Labor in the trade group’s appeal of a government policy that declared mortgage loan officers did not qualify under the administrative exemption to overtime pay. On Oct. 2, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia refused to grant a full-court review of its decision exactly three months earlier that sided with the MBA on how the DOL imposed overtime compensation requirements under the Fair Labor Standards Act. The MBA filed...

The Department of Justice recently announced settlements from three fair lending actions, all of which included allegations related to wholesale mortgage lending operations. In the first case, Southport Bank of Kenosha, WI, agreed to pay $687,000 to African-American and Hispanic wholesale mortgage borrowers as part of a settlement to resolve allegations that it engaged in a pattern or practice of discrimination on the basis of race and national origin. The proceeds of the settlement will be used...

Among other things, the Federal Home Loan Banks want to maintain their ability to securitize residential mortgages for their members.

While standardization was the focus of jumbo investors, perhaps the bigger concern for participants is that most investors said they were looking to buy almost anything other than new jumbo MBS.

Meanwhile, smaller mortgage lenders that do not have delegated underwriting authority are reporting delays on getting loans closed.

The CMC letter follows one sent last night by 15 housing and mortgage-related trade groups to Acting FHFA Director Edward DeMarco, asking him not to lower the GSE loan limit, while questioning the legality of such a change.

ABA will send FHFA its own letter on GSE loan limits. Meanwhile, CFPB finds two mortgage bankers over RESPA violations.

Peters Sack of Credit Suisse said the bank portfolio bid is currently much stronger than the economics for issuing jumbo MBS.