It appears that the Federal Housing Finance Agency has slowed its search for a chief executive and chairman to manage the fledgling common securitization platform, which is slated to be headquartered in Bethesda, MD. One former candidate for the CEO position told Inside The GSEs: “It’s pretty much turned into the mess I suspected it would a year ago.” Discussing the chairman position, he added: “They still haven’t come to terms on compensation for the person they want.”

The Federal Housing Finance Agency, as part of its new “servicing project,” is once again reviewing minimum fees paid to servicers of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loans, according to industry advisors briefed on the matter. Among other things, the servicing project is reviewing how large-scale packages of GSE receivables are sold and transferred. This was not entirely unexpected, given the massive sales of mortgage servicing rights the past 18 months. But mortgage bankers thought changing the minimum servicing fee of 25 basis points was a dead issue.

VA Lenders’ Compliance with CFPB’s Ability-to-Repay and Qualified Mortgage Rules. Until the Department of Veterans Affairs’ rule on ATR/QM is in place, all VA lenders must comply with the requirements of the Truth in Lending Act, as established by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s ATR/QM rule, according to a recent agency guideline. VA will continue to guarantee all loans made in compliance with existing VA requirements, regardless of their QM status, the agency clarified. It urged lenders to refer to the CFPB guidance to ensure all their VA loans are ...

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are poised to see enhanced competition in the multifamily mortgage-backed securities market in 2014, but it remains to be seen whether the GSEs’ regulator will follow through on proposed restraints on their multifamily footprint. The two GSEs await fresh direction from the FHFA in terms of any possible further constriction of their multifamily activity, after they were directed in 2013 to reduce their multifamily loan purchases by 10 percent from the previous year.

Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Mel Watt ended his first week on his new job by announcing four special advisors “to provide counsel on policy and strategic decisions” at the FHFA. Megan Moore will join the Finance Agency as Special Advisor – Intergovernmental.

Expect the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s Office of Inspector General and its investigators to continue to seek out an “increasingly active role” alongside federal and state prosecutors in the pursuit of financial fraud cases – whether or not there is a GSE connection, according to an industry attorney. Industry lawyer and one-time federal prosecutor Andrew Schilling of BuckleySandler noted in a recent opinion piece what the FHFA’s official watchdog itself recently boasted – that the OIG seeks to expand its investigative presence in 2014.

Two days after he was sworn in to a five-year term as the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s new director, Mel Watt followed through on a pledge he made last month following his Senate confirmation and officially delayed a GSE guaranty fee increase. Watt this week countermanded a move by his predecessor, then-Acting Director Edward DeMarco, who announced in December a number of GSE pricing structure changes.

In 2014, lawmakers and the Obama administration will no longer be able to avoid confronting claims by GSE shareholders seeking recovery, says an expert. This week, while attending a Financial Services Roundtable Housing Policy Council forum on GSE reform, financial industry consultant Bert Ely quizzed Sens. Bob Corker, R-TN, and Mark Warner, D-VA, about GSE securities.

This year’s prolonged and bitter political fight to install Rep. Mel Watt, D-NC, as the new director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency may turn out to have been the easy part, say industry observers, as he prepares to assume his place as arguably the most powerful mortgage regulator in the U.S. Last week’s 57-41 vote was the second successful confirmation under new Senate rules that essentially eliminated the filibuster for presidential appointments. In November, Senate Democrats muscled through a procedural change that replaced the 60-vote supermajority on nominations with a simple majority vote, shutting down GOP efforts to block Watt’s advance to the Finance Agency’s corner office.