The European debt crisis, following not far behind the global financial market meltdown of a few years ago, has put more pressure on the covered bond market, but analysts at the ABS East conference sponsored by Information Management Network said the sector is holding up well and gaining more acceptance in other countries. Covered bonds have not been completely unscathed, said Michael Durrer, a partner at Sidley Austin LLP. But Canada is starting up a covered bond market, Australia has recently enacted legislation, New Zealand has seen its first transactions and Belgium – the last European...

In a major shakeup of its executive suite, Freddie Mac’s chief executive will step down next year while three members of the GSE’s board of directors are also headed for the exits, the Federal Housing Finance Agency announced this week.Freddie CEO Charles Haldeman Jr. informed the board of his desire “to step down sometime in the coming year,” according to the FHFA announcement. Freddie did not comment on Haldeman’s resignation, nor did it make the announcement itself, referring to the Finance Agency’s official press release in its Securities and Exchange Commission 8K filing this week.

Long awaited alterations to the Home Affordable Refinance Program announced by the Federal Housing Finance Agency this week are expected to be of some relief to underwater homeowners but it will do little to endear the Finance Agency to its critics, particularly among House Democrats, who think the FHFA should do more.Among the new HARP enhancements is the elimination of certain risk-based fees for borrowers who refinance into shorter-term mortgages and lower fees for other borrowers. Also removed is the current 125 percent loan-to-value ceiling for fixed rate mortgages backed by the government-sponsored enterprises.

Fannie Mae earlier this month released additional results of its new servicer evaluation program for the first half of 2011, noting that 11 out of 13 servicers in this peer group are considered on track to meet at least median performance levels.In February, Fannie rolled out its Servicer Total Achievement and Rewards (STAR) program, designed to encourage customer service improvements and better foreclosure prevention outcomes for homeowners by rating servicers on their performance in those areas. Fannie categorizes servicers into three peer groups based on the number of loans they service, with each servicer scored using the Servicer Performance Scorecard. STAR ratings are based on a five-star scale.

The chairman of the House subcommittee that oversees the GSEs unveiled a bill late this week that seeks to drastically overhaul the secondary mortgage market – without the need for Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac.The Private Mortgage Market Act would create a heavily regulated mortgage-backed securities market consisting strictly of private entities functioning without a federal guarantee, according to Rep. Scott Garrett, R-NJ.Garrett, who chairs the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Capital Markets and Government-Sponsored Enterprises, said the goal of his legislation is to facilitate continued standardization and uniformity, ensure rule of law and provide MBS investors with the necessary transparency and standardization to ensure “that a deep and liquid market develops” without Fannie and Freddie.

The 12 member “super committee” of House and Senate members tasked with tackling debt reduction should seriously consider raising the guarantee fees charged by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as one way to reduce government expenditures, according to the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee. In a letter to the members of the Joint Select Committee to Reduce the Deficit, Rep. Spencer Bachus, R-AL, said the committee should consider raising the premiums the GSEs charge lenders to insure against the risk that borrowers will fail to repay their loans to something even higher than the White House and regulators have proposed.

Under fire by its official watchdog, as well as by a senior House Democrat, the Federal Housing Finance Agency last week announced it has directed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to transition away from the GSEs’ current foreclosure attorney network programs. FHFA’s directive – which it says is in synch with the Finance Agency’s Servicing Alignment Initiative to produce uniform foreclosure processing standards – will move toward a system where mortgage servicers select qualified law firms that meet certain minimum, uniform criteria. Under current practice in certain states, each GSE designates law firms eligible to undertake foreclosure work, and mortgage servicers then select and work with these firms, according to the FHFA.

Overwhelmed by the tidal wave of foreclosures and under intense scrutiny by lawmakers and regulators, the mortgage industry and default servicers in particular are being challenged like never before to keep up with complex, ever-changing compliance rules and they are in dire need of a technology solution to keep up with the changes. Compliance technology vendors such as Irvine, CA-based DecisionReady are striving to keep up with the demands of their clients, who may not exactly know what they want but know they need a solution that keeps them connected and on top of the latest legal and procedural changes, according to...

Wells Fargo accounted for a whopping 26.1 percent of home mortgages originated during the third quarter, and when you throw in the production numbers for other kingpins in the industry it’s hard to see how small lenders survive. But beneath the gaudy market shares of the Wells Fargos and JPMorgan Chases of the world stand hundreds of small originators – mortgage brokers, community banks, credit unions and old-school independent mortgage bankers – that feed them a significant amount of business. The key to finding success under the shadow of the industry giants is developing a speciality, usually coupled with an obsession for...

Home mortgage production volume increased by 20.4 percent during the third quarter of 2011 as record-low mortgage interest rates sparked a new wave of refinancing activity. An estimated $325.0 billion in new residential mortgages were originated during the third quarter, according to a new Inside Mortgage Finance ranking and analysis. While that was up solidly from the previous three-month period, it still ranked as the second lowest quarter since the mortgage market collapsed at the end of 2008. Through the nine-month mark in 2011, total production for the year was still down 16.7 percent from...(Includes two data charts)