Only one lender accounted for more than 10 percent of the single-family mortgage volume completed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in 2014: Wells Fargo. The bank also dominates deliveries to Ginnie Mae and originations of jumbo mortgages. Wells had $180.89 billion in mortgage originations in 2014, accounting for 14.6 percent of total mortgage originations, according to Inside Mortgage Finance. The bank’s share of mortgage originations declined from 18.9 percent in 2013 as refinance activity slowed and nonbanks made efforts to compete for production and servicing. Officials at Wells said...

The fourth quarter was Nationstar’s worst production quarter of the year.

However, the broker channel generated $117 billion of new originations, the lowest reading since 1995.

Falling interest rates tripped up Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac during the fourth quarter, indirectly leading to sharp declines in profitability despite continuing gains in their key mortgage-backed securities guaranty fee operations. Together, the two government-sponsored enterprises earned $1.54 billion in net income during the fourth quarter of 2014, down 74.3 percent from the previous quarter. With their retained portfolios in shrinkage mode, net interest income was down 11.9 percent from 2013. The big factor was...

One of the biggest knocks on PHH Mortgage is that it has little in the way of traditional retail, relying instead on private label partners like Merrill Lynch.

PennyMac Loan Services, the only nonbank to rank among the top five, had one of the strongest growth rates with 56.7 percent.

Wells Fargo remained the most dominant lender in the sector with $42.28 billion of jumbo originations in 2014, down 2.5 percent from the year before.

Despite the comparatively small staff of examiners at the CFPB – close to 500 – Deputy Director Steven Antonakes said in a speech last week that his staff is an “x-factor,” in that the bureau works closely with other state and federal exam teams to leverage its resources. In military terms, that’s known as a force multiplier. “The bureau does not have a safety and soundness mandate. Nevertheless, we very much care about the financial health of banks and nonbanks,” Antonakes said. “As a veteran of two banking crises, I can tell you unequivocally that, in my view, consumer protection is not in conflict with safety and soundness. Consumers benefit from a healthy, competitive, and diversified financial services system through greater access ...

Almost 71 percent of residential loans originated last year were funneled into mortgage securities. In 2013 the securitization rate was 78.5 percent.

Securitization was still the dominant method to fund new home mortgage production in 2014, but Wall Street got a run for its money from portfolio lenders. A new Inside MBS & ABS analysis reveals that 70.5 percent of residential mortgages originated last year were funneled into mortgage securities. That was down from 78.5 percent in 2013 and represented the lowest mortgage securitization rate since 2006. Delivering eligible loans into new Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae securities is...[Includes one data chart]