A bill that would create a legislative framework for a covered bond market in the U.S. cleared a House subcommittee with bipartisan support this week following some fine tuning by its sponsors to address concerns raised by critics and regulators. The House Financial Services Subcommittee on Capital Markets and...

One of the emerging compliance priorities for mortgage lenders will be to synchronize as much as possible their adoption of separate rules for “qualified mortgages” and “qualified residential mortgages” developed by federal regulators following the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. Adding to the challenge is...

The American Guild of Appraisers met with Rep. Barney Frank, D-MA, on April 14 to ask for his help in resolving the guild’s concerns with the Federal Reserve Board’s interim final rule on appraiser independence and reasonable and customary fees, which was implemented on the first of the month...

The consent decree which certain mortgage servicers have reportedly agreed to draws heavily from an earlier draft of comprehensive measures developed by federal banking regulators to improve foreclosure policies and practices. The provisions in the draft, which had been ready as early as February, compel servicers to...

The Federal Reserve Board’s loan originator compensation rule is finally in effect after lawsuits filed by mortgage broker trade groups failed to stop the rule in its tracks. In a terse, one-page decision, the U.S. District Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit lifted a temporary stay order against...

Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council. Revised Interagency Exam Procedures for Regulation Z (TILA). Notwithstanding court petitions seeking to stop the implementation of a new loan originator compensation rule, the Federal Reserve Board announced revised examination procedures that will ensure...

Risk-retention requirements proposed by federal regulators last week strongly favor the government-sponsored enterprises over non-agency securitization, according to industry analysts. The pristine mortgages in Redwood Trust’s recent jumbo securitization would not completely meet the standards and the vast majority of... [Includes one graph]

The Home Affordable Modification Program continues to be criticized for the pace of activity, but one segment of the market has embraced HAMP: servicers with loans in portfolio. While HAMP accounted for 27.0 percent of all mods completed by major banks and thrifts in the fourth quarter of 2010, HAMP accounted for 50.2 percent of...

Citing improved conditions for legacy non-agency mortgage-backed securities, the Federal Reserve this week auctioned off $1.33 billion in non-agency MBS acquired from American International Group. Information on the winning bids will be made public in three months but analysts suggest that...

Many stakeholders are still in the dark with unanswered questions despite efforts by senior staff attorneys of the Federal Reserve to explain the complex provisions and issues arising from a final rule on loan originator compensation. Paul Mondor and Nikita Pastor, attorneys with the Fed’s Consumer and Community Affairs Division, which wrote...