Look for the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee under a Democrat majority to focus over the next two years on assuring a smooth implementation of the Dodd-Frank Act, stabilizing the housing market and building a “bipartisan consensus” on housing finance reform, according to the committee’s chairman. “From protecting consumers and taxpayers from Wall Street abuses, to providing the Federal Housing Administration with additional tools to manage its finances while continuing to serve American families, I believe we can find common ground,” said Sen. Tim Johnson, D-SD, chairman. The committee will continue...

GSE reform could see the light of day after all - or at least an attempt at it.

PowerLink Settlement, a service provider and appraisal management joint venture controlled by Fidelity National Financial and Homeward Residential, is shutting its doors.

HSBC is planning a large nonperforming mortgage auction that could happen early in the second quarter.

Lenders are looking at guaranty fee hikes of 50 basis points this year - maybe.

If Wells Fargo sells MSRs more investment vehicles dedicated to servicing rights may spring up.

Federal regulators are almost finished writing a new risk-retention rule including a definition for “qualified residential mortgages,” according to Federal Reserve Governor Daniel Tarullo. The agencies appear to be considering looser standards for QRMs than those initially proposed in 2011, perhaps using the same “qualified mortgage” definition as in the recently finalized ability-to-repay rule. Tarullo said federal regulators had completed most of the risk-retention rulewriting and were waiting for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to finalize QM and ability-to-repay requirements, which the CFPB completed in January. “It really was having...

Securitization of nonperforming loans has increased significantly since 2009, with ever greater issuance expected this year. However, industry participants warn that requirements in the Securities and Exchange Commission’s proposed revision Reg AB will effectively extinguish the market for NPL securitization. Ryan Stark, a director at Deutsche Bank Securities, noted that since the collapse of the non-agency market, issuance involving nonperforming loans has far outpaced issuance of new non-agency MBS. He said about 30 nonperforming loan deals were completed from 2010 through the end of 2012, most without ratings. Issuance of NPL securities started...

Add this to the mortgage banker worry-list: the FHFA is once again toying with the idea of changing the minimum servicing fee on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loans.

The ink is hardly dry on the final residential servicing regulations promulgated by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, but mortgage bankers are already worrying about meeting the implementation date, which is less than 11 months away. But there is some good news. According to panelists speaking during an Inside Mortgage Finance webinar this week, it’s likely that the agency will extend the deadline beyond January 2014. Larry Platt, of K&L Gates, and Michael Waldron, of Ballard Spahr ...