MBA pushes for GSE AU engines to be synchronized. Meanwhile, a factoid of mortgage history: Treasury chief Paulson wanted Fannie and Freddie put in receivership.

Yet another plan to reshape the mortgage market has been published, this one from noted housing economist Mark Zandi, and Ellen Seidman, once the nation's top S&L regulator.

While some banks have started to securitize jumbo mortgages, the vast majority of jumbo originations remain in portfolio.

Former GSE regulator James Lockhart noted that only one “catastrophic” guarantor is needed, though he stressed that “you need more than one issuer.”

Compensation for directors at each of the 12 Federal Home Loan Banks increased in 2012, continuing a trend begun in 2011 where a director’s earnings “started to show a wide range across the FHLBanks for similar positions,” according to the Federal Housing Finance Agency.

Lewis Ranieri, one of the inventors of the non-agency mortgage-backed security, said there are currently a lack of viable alternatives to agency mortgages.

Policymakers looking for a model to replace the government-sponsored enterprises should look no further than the non-agency jumbo market, according to Rep. Jeb Hensarling, R-TX, chairman of the House Financial Services Committee. “We don’t have to look overseas to see a well-functioning housing market without GSEs,” he said at a hearing this week. “Prior to the housing bust, the jumbo market was approximately 20 percent of the total housing market. There was capital, liquidity, competition ...

A bill to reform the government-sponsored enterprises that is in the works in the Senate would reduce conforming loan limits at a much slower pace than many non-agency participants would like to see. Draft legislation from Sens. Bob Corker, R-TN, and Mark Warner, D-VA, has some bipartisan support in Congress, though it is unclear how far the bill will make it in Congress this year. The Secondary Mortgage Market Reform and Taxpayer Protection Act of 2013 would replace the Federal Housing Finance Agency with ...

The linchpin for a viable and comprehensive National Mortgage Database is to ensure that the identities of both mortgage borrowers and mortgage servicers from whom the statistical information is collected for analysis are protected behind a firm wall of security countermeasures, according to project architects.

The amount of home-equity loans held by depository institutions continued to decline in early 2013, with little sign that banks, thrifts and credit unions are likely to ramp up their lending in the near future, according to a new Inside Mortgage Finance analysis and ranking.