Recent structural changes and new priorities at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau will significantly reduce the bureau’s ability to police discriminatory lending, the Brookings Institute said.
The inspector general of the Federal Housing Finance Agency voiced concerns about the agency’s supervision of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, while lawmakers questioned why new products like the Integrated Mortgage Insurance (IMAGIN) credit risk-transfer program were implemented without going through the proper channels.
The Federal Housing Finance Agency’s supervision and guidance of the GSEs lacks the rigor shown by other federal financial regulators, according to the FHFA’s inspector general, Laura Wertheimer. She testified during a House Financial Services subcommittee hearing this week focusing on the oversight of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Throughout the hearing, Wertheimer and lawmakers pointed to a number of supervisory concerns and questioned the FHFA’s standards when it comes to monitoring the mortgage giants. “The flexible and less prescriptive nature of many FHFA standards and much of its guidance has resulted in inconsistent supervisory practices,” she said.
Fannie Mae’s new headquarters in downtown Washington, DC, continues to be a bone of contention for some, but the GSE said the project is on schedule and expects it to be completed by November 2018. So far, about 20 percent of Fannie’s Washington workforce has relocated and more are planned as additional floors are finished. During a House Financial Services Oversight and Investigations subcommittee hearing this week, lawmakers inquired about the building’s costs. Federal Housing Finance Agency Inspector General Laura Wertheimer criticized the regulator’s monitoring of the build outs. Wertheimer said the initial investigation of the headquarters stemmed from a...
The Federal Housing Finance Agency Office of Inspector General said the FHFA did not make sure that Freddie Mac’s plans to address cybersecurity deficiencies were sufficient. Instead, the agency questionably closed the matter requiring attention (MRA) after deciding on its own that the GSE had completed its planned remedial actions.This raised a red flag with the OIG, which said when an MRA is issued, the FHFA requires the GSE to provide a remedial plan that includes specific milestones that take into consideration the complexity of the issue and the urgency regarding the correction.
The Federal Housing Finance Agency is proposing to amend its regulations on the responsibility of the board, directors, corporate practices, and corporate governances for the GSEs and Federal Home Loan Banks. It also would apply the FHLB strategic business plans to Fannie and Freddie. This means that the GSEs’ boards would have a strategic business plan in effect at all times, which describes how the regulated entity will achieve its statutory purposes. Moreover, there’d be a provision that requires each GSE board to review the strategic plans annually, re-adopt it once every three years, at minimum, and...
At his first appearance before Congress as acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Mick Mulvaney restated his desire to reform the agency, while defending his leadership from Democrats’ harsh accusations that he is undermining the bureau.
This is what can happen when a federal agency is taken over by someone who once called it a “sick, sad joke.” Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Acting Director Mick Mulvaney this week issued a semiannual report asking Congress to remake the agency and require that major CFPB rules be approved by Congress.
The GSEs purchased close to 100,000 low-downpayment loans from 2013 to 2016, but not all borrowers participated in a homeownership counseling course when required, according to a recent audit.In a new report, the Federal Housing Finance Agency Office of Inspector General concluded that both Fannie and Freddie had high rates of compliance in their 97 percent loan-to-value programs.During the three-year period, the GSEs purchased 94,328 loans that fit into the 97 percent mortgage product. Fannie was responsible for 74,700 of those loans with about one-fourth of the borrowers requiring homeownership education. This is where the GSE fell short.
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