Bank and thrift members of the Federal Home Loan Bank system had outstanding advances of $522.5 billion at March 31, a quarterly decrease of 7.2 percent, according to an analysis by Inside The GSEs.But the year-over-year numbers are still up, with the first quarter of 2017 8.6 percent higher than the $481.2 billion reported in the first quarter of 2016. In fact, the $563.3 billion reported at the end of the fourth quarter represented the largest volume of advances for the whole year.JPMorgan Chase continues to lead among borrowers with $74.3 billion in advances, down 6.5 percent from the previous quarter.
A new lawsuit arguing the merits of the Treasury net worth sweep was filed in Michigan, while other cases continue to hang in the balance in various phases of discovery. Michael Rop, Stewart Knoepp and Alvin Wilson v. the Federal Housing Finance Agency was filed this month by three shareholders who want the court to vacate the third amendment to the preferred stock purchase agreement and declare the structure of the Federal Housing Finance Agency unconstitutional.According to court documents, the trio is looking to challenge “both past and ongoing abuses of power by a federal agency that operates wholly outside of the system of limited and divided government established by the constitution.”
Treasury Rumored to Appoint Fannie Counsel as Deputy. Brian Brooks, Fannie Mae’s general counsel and former colleague of Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, is reportedly being tapped as deputy secretary of the Treasury Department, according to Axios. The Trump administration has not confirmed the appointment. Brooks worked with Mnuchin at OneWest Bank. Freddie Mac Prices First Tax-Exempt ML Certificates Offering. Freddie Mac expanded its support for affordable housing with a new series of credit-risk transfer securities backed by Tax-Exempt Loans (TELs) made by state or local housing agencies and secured by affordable rental housing. The company recently priced approximately...
Fannie Mae General Counsel Brian Brooks is rumored to be up for a top post at the Treasury Department, a development that if consummated would add yet another seasoned industry veteran familiar with the government-sponsored enterprises to the agency. What that might mean for “administrative” reform of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is another question. As Inside MBS & ABS went to press this week, Brooks – who joined Fannie from OneWest Bank in November 2014 – had not been...
The Federal Housing Finance Agency is backing recommendations for additional authority that would allow it to examine third parties that do business with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. In its 2016 Annual Report to Congress released this week, the FHFA said it concurs with recommendations made by both the Government Accountability Office and the Financial Stability Oversight Council that Congress grant the agency authority to oversee the entities that provide critical services to the government-sponsored enterprises. While counterparty oversight is critical to the safety and soundness of the GSEs, it is...
“By limiting the volume of securities that private investors will have to absorb as we reduce our holdings, the caps should guard against outsized moves in interest rates and other potential market strains,” said Fed Chairman Janet Yellen.
First-time homebuyers have fueled a surge in home sales in the last two years, and the trend is continuing into 2017, according to a new report on the first-time homebuyer market from Genworth Mortgage Insurance. The report focused on mortgage origination data from more than 20 million first-time homebuyers over the past 24 years, with some interesting findings. Approximately 85 percent of the overall increase in home sales over the past two years was...
Fun fact: Ginnie Mae servicing now represents 16.5 percent of all residential debt outstanding – more than triple the program’s market share at the end of 2008.
The Treasury Department this week proposed eliminating the special qualified-mortgage provision that allows Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to acquire loans with debt-to-income ratios that exceed the normal 43 percent limit for QM loans. The special treatment for the government-sponsored enterprises, known as the GSE patch, “creates an unfair advantage for government-supported mortgages without providing additional consumer protection … and inhibits consumer choices by restricting private sector flexibility and participation,” the agency said in a report on financial service regulatory reform. The report urged...
RSS