If you’re a mortgage banker hoping to issue Ginnie Mae securities, now may be a good time to apply: the list of pending applications is extremely short, as are the wait times. According to Gregory Keith, senior vice president and chief risk officer for the agency, there are now just nine pending applications, with two of those being circulated for final approval. Moreover, according to figures provided to Inside MBS & ABS, final approvals granted to banks and nonbanks have been...
Sen. Mark Warner, D-VA, suggested the widespread view that Congress won’t get around to resolving the conservatorships of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac may be too pessimistic. Speaking at a Mortgage Bankers Association conference in Washington, DC, this week, Warner said, “This may surprise some folks, but I think the stars may align where you could actually see housing-finance reform happen in front of some of the Dodd-Frank reform.” Warner, who co-authored a reform bill four years ago, said...
Reps. Randy Hultgren, R-IL, and Gwen Moore, D-WI, want to restore Federal Home Loan Bank membership for captive insurance lenders that joined the system prior to the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s rulemaking that restricted membership of firms that would otherwise be ineligible. H.R. 289, the Housing Opportunity Mortgage Expansion (HOME) Act, would allow FHLBank members that were booted from the system to rejoin it, as well as the retention of those whose departure is pending, if they can demonstrate a commitment to residential mortgage activities. Most of the affected companies are real estate investment trusts. The sponsors explained...