Can former FHFA director Ed DeMarco affect the debate on the future of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac? Can anyone?

Banks’ mortgage banking efforts through two quarters in 2014 pale in comparison to the first half of last year, though income and other metrics improved in the second quarter, according to an analysis of call report data by Inside Mortgage Trends, an affiliated newsletter. Banks had a total of $4.91 billion in mortgage banking income in the second quarter, up 45.5 percent from the first three months of the year. However, mortgage banking income was well below levels seen in the first half of 2013, before the most recent refinance boom ground to a halt. Banks had...

JPMorgan Chase, whose chairman and CEO Jamie Dimon has contemplated leaving the FHA program, originated $1.14 billion during the first half, a 55 percent decline from a year ago.

The sale of Shelter is one of the largest mortgage M&A deals of the past few months and could mark the beginning of an active second half of industry consolidation.

Analysts at FBR & Co. view the ban as an “earnings issue” because “replacement financing would likely be more expensive than existing financing.”

It appears that PennyMac Financial Services is in the market to buy MSRs...

“We’re looking for production and we have the appetite,” said Jeff Lemieux, who heads the third-party lending channel of Bayview. "We’d like to hire them as soon as possible.”

Union Bank and First Republic Bank are the only banks in the top 10 to focus a large majority of their originations on jumbos.

“The new guys are quickly gaining on the traditional players,” said Ginnie president Ted Tozer. “Some have grown from zero to $5 billion to $10 billion overnight. We’re concerned about their infrastructure and capital.”