On Tuesday the Senate Banking Committee will hold a vote on the nomination of Richard Cordray to head the CFPB. Does this mean the GOP is warming up to him or is something else afoot?
Improving loan quality is sparking a major shake-out in the due diligence sector. Can jumbo production and MBS save the day? Meanwhile, the supply of MBS expanded slightly in the fourth quarter.
Legislation introduced this week by a bipartisan group of senators would seek to jumpstart the stalled effort in Congress to implement legislative reform of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, but industry observers say the measure may also act to hinder cash grabs by government officials when the Treasury Department begins its sweep of the GSEs profits. The Jumpstart GSE Reform Act sponsored by Sen. Bob Corker, R-TN, with co-sponsors Sens. Mark Warner, D-VA, David Vitter, R-LA, and Elizabeth Warren, D-MA would prohibit any increase in Fannies and Freddies guaranty fee from offsetting other government spending. The reality is that if Congress were to spend g-fee revenue from the GSEs on other programs, reforming these mortgage behemoths would become nearly impossible, said Corker.
The Treasury Department is on board with a risk-sharing mandate from the Federal Housing Finance Agency that sets a $30 billion goal this year for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Thats the word from FHFA officials who discussed the matter with Inside The GSEs, but who did not want to be identified by name. Treasury has taken a great interest in these things, said one FHFA official. Theyre not ignoring what were doing. The Treasury Department did not return telephone calls about the matter.
The “near-term efforts” that the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s 2013 Conservatorship Scorecard take aim at include an update of mortgage insurance master policies and formulating eligibility standards, as well as developing a set of “aligned standards” for force-placed insurance, the FHFA announced last week. The announcement comes a month after the Finance Agency abruptly overruled a plan pushed by Fannie to buy force-placed insurance directly from a number of insurance companies at an estimated 30