Concern about government-proposed capital rules for private mortgage insurers and their potentially negative effect on MI premiums has prompted loan guarantors and others to call for changes. The Mortgage Bankers Association, National Association of Realtors and several private MI companies have urged the Federal Housing Finance Agency to ease proposed capital requirements for private MIs. As written, the proposed rules could cause MI premiums to spike, making it more difficult for first-time homebuyers to purchase a home and for MIs to maintain market share, they warned. The draft Private Mortgage Insurer Eligibility Requirements (PMIERs) is...

Federal regulators should craft capital requirements for nonbank mortgage companies that emphasize areas of risk that demand adequate capital and profitability, such as lending and mortgage securitization, instead of areas that are more connected with operational efficiency and compliance, such as loan servicing, according to the Kroll Bond Rating Agency. The Federal Housing Finance Agency is trying to determine how much capital a nonbank mortgage company involved in lending, securitization and/or servicing needs in order to minimize the potential risk to the government-sponsored enterprises, while Ginnie Mae is researching the risk posed by nonbank issuers. “How much capital does a nonbank seller/servicer need...

Altisource Portfolio Solutions has rolled out a new operating platform for brokers, table funders and third-party vendors.

Although the Federal Reserve has tapered its agency MBS purchases significantly, the central bank continued to grow its holdings during the second quarter.

The advisory firm based its findings on the operating results of 37 independent mortgage banking companies across the U.S.

A number of banks have been motivated to reduce their MSR holdings because of concentration limits imposed by the emerging Basel risk capital rules.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac issued $61.1 billion in single-family mortgage-backed securities during the month of August, a 5.5 percent increase from the previous month, according to a new Inside The GSEs analysis. However, MBS issuance through the first eight months of 2014 was down 56.7 percent from the same period a year ago Top-ranked Wells Fargo’s Fannie and Freddie securitization, at $8.2 billion, rose by 3.1 percent on a monthly basis but dropped 70.0 percent year-to-date.

Mortgage lenders securitized $90.95 billion of single-family MBS through the GSEs and Ginnie Mae during August – the biggest monthly volume since September 2013, according to IM&A.

There are signs of life in mortgage hiring, depending on the job description. Firms looking to increase staff levels include the lending arm of Bayview Asset Management, Citadel Loan Servicing and Carrington Mortgage Services.

New production of agency single-family MBS increased by 6.6 percent from July to August as the midyear home-buying season continued to generate a healthy supply of new primary market originations, according to a new Inside MBS & ABS analysis. Mortgage lenders last month pushed a total of $90.95 billion of single-family MBS through the securitization programs of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae. It was the biggest monthly volume since September 2013, but August issuance was boosted by an unusually large volume of seasoned loans that also helped tilt the competitive landscape. Freddie saw...[Includes two data charts]