Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac continue to develop their new common securitization platform in relative secrecy, although the concept has become a key component of mortgage-finance reform recently unveiled by the leadership of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee. Under the bill drafted by Sens. Tim Johnson, D-SD, and Mike Crapo, R-ID, the CSP would operate as a privately-owned utility through which single-family MBS would be issued, with or without the new explicit government guaranty. Regulated by the new overseer of the MBS market, the Federal Mortgage Insurance Corp., the platform would shepherd...

At the end of 2013, the Fed’s holdings topped the commercial banking industry’s total MBS portfolio of $1.369 trillion, and it accounted for 26.6 percent of the $5.601 billion of agency single-family MBS outstanding at that time, according to Inside MBS & ABS.

The OMB recently estimated that Fannie and Freddie will pump more than $179 billion into the Treasury over the next 10 years, assuming the two GSEs remain in operation and continue to pay dividends to the government.

All the world loves the CFPB? Not in the mortgage space, it seems. Financial services consultant Joe Garrett said he has six mortgage clients that have undergone exams by the agency. To say the least, it hasn't been a happy experience.

Sens. Tim Johnson, D-SD, and Mike Crapo, R-ID, finally delivered this week their long-awaited mortgage reform bill that provides for a wind down of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and create in their place a new mortgage insurance entity to act as a new federal backstop. The 442-page draft by the Chairman and Ranking Member of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee sets a five-year timeline to shut down the two GSEs, while creating the Federal Mortgage Insurance Corp., a utility that securitizes and guarantees mortgages.

Most industry observers expect it will be too tall of an order for Congress to finish the difficult task of enacting GSE reform in 2014 amid the high-stakes mid-term elections and with political control of the Senate up for grabs. However, some experts note that lawmakers, both Democrat and Republican, may become more open to compromise and horse trading closer to the end of the year if it means getting legislation to the President’s desk rather than risk starting over next year with a potentially GOP-controlled 114th Congress.

With the first quarter of the year nearly over, the Federal Housing Finance Agency has yet to indicate when, or even whether, it will issue its 2014 Conservatorship Scorecard. The agency debuted its scorecard in early March 2012 under then FHFA Acting Director Edward DeMarco as a means to implement in fuller detail the Finance Agency’s “strategic plan” for a post-Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac secondary market.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have a liquidation value – excluding what they’ve already paid to the federal government – potentially well north of $200 billion, according to an independent evaluation conducted on the two GSEs.The report, conducted by Alvarez & Marsal, concluded that if the two GSEs are eventually liquidated, the federal government could reap $170 billion to $234 billion in net proceeds. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have a liquidation value – excluding what they’ve already paid to the federal government – potentially well north of $200 billion, according to an independent evaluation conducted on the two GSEs. The report, conducted by Alvarez & Marsal, concluded that if the two GSEs are eventually liquidated, the federal government could reap $170 billion to $234 billion in net proceeds.

Lawmakers and industry groups are strongly suggesting that the Federal Housing Finance Agency think twice then forget about its proposal to set GSE conforming purchase limits. The conforming loan limit is currently $417,000 and the high-cost conforming loan limit is $625,500. Last December, the FHFA proposed to establish “loan purchase” limits for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac which wouldn’t occur until October at the earliest.

GSE profits are poised to remain the multi-billion dollar gift that keeps on giving to Uncle Sam over the next decade, according to a White House analysis. The analysis, which is part of the Obama administration’s 2015 budget, assumes Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac remain in operation and continue to pay dividends to the government under the current “net worth sweep” arrangement promulgated by the Treasury Department in the summer of 2012. As part of the President’s Fiscal Year 2015 budget request, the White House Office of Management and Budget released projections that the GSEs could return an additional $179.2 billion to the Treasury through 2024.