The House Financial Services Committee’s second highest ranking Democrat is again facing ethics charges stemming from actions she allegedly took to aid a minority bank connected to her husband to recover losses it suffered when Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac preferred stock plummeted after the GSEs were put into conservatorship.The House Ethics Committee announced two weeks ago it will restart its investigation of ethics charges against Rep. Maxine Waters, D-CA, with the hiring of Washington, DC, attorney Billy Martin as an outside counsel to the committee to “review, revise and assist the committee in completing the matter.”

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have each suspended Republic Mortgage Insurance Co. and its affiliate RMIC of North Carolina effective immediately as approved mortgage insurers after the GSEs concluded the mortgage insurer will no longer be able to meet mandatory capital requirements.According to Fannie’s July 29 announcement, RMIC breached its regulatory risk-to-capital limits required by North Carolina, the mortgage insurer’s state of domicile, as of Sept. 30, 2010.

The Mortgage Bankers Association urged the Federal Housing Finance Agency to include other fee structures and not just seek public comment on one servicing fee structure in a forthcoming proposal. The FHFA has been working behind closed doors with Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae to devise a new servicing compensation structure for mortgages securitized by the agencies, which account for over 90 percent of new lending. Industry groups and others have been consulted during the process, which is expected to result in an exposure document subject to public comment. The MBA cautioned the FHFA against showing preference for any...

The Federal Housing Finance Agency may make a number of minor but important tweaks before finalizing changes to its existing Freedom of Information Act regulations.

Mortgage market watchers and insiders on Capitol Hill report there is little chatter and seemingly even less enthusiasm from the White House to send to the Senate another nominee to serve as the permanent director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency.As the FHFA’s Acting Director Edward DeMarco is set to begin his third year as the Finance Agency’s “temporary” head next month, no one among the legislative staffers, trade association officials and industry insiders who spoke with Inside The GSEs said they expect a change in the status quo. But neither did they have anything discouraging to say about his leadership or job performance to date.

Issuers of ABS backed by vehicle loans urged federal regulators to adopt a pool-level approach to determine new risk-retention requirements rather than the all-or-nothing standard proposed earlier this year that featured a narrowly drawn definition of “qualified auto loans. ”Like the more widely discussed provisions on non-agency MBS securitization, the interagency proposed rule carved out an exemption from the 5 percent risk-retention requirement for auto ABS that are backed exclusively by qualified auto loans. But issuer members of the American Securitization Forum said the proposed definition of qualified auto loans features...

Major MBS issuers are concerned about the potential harm evolving risk-retention regulations could have on securitization structures, regardless of which structure issuers decide to use. In response to the interagency proposed rule on credit risk retention, Citigroup said the public interest is not served by requiring securitizers to hold positions that are designed to take losses. “For example, all deal parties, the rating agencies and the investors are fully aware that the lowest tranche, sometimes referred to as a ‘first loss’ tranche, may take losses and no representation is made that such tranche is either investment grade or will receive...

While many commenters support the proposed exemption for the government-sponsored enterprises from new risk-retention rules in the short-term, opinions vary as to just how long Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac should enjoy such an exemption and its long-term impact on private securitizations. Federal regulators earlier this year proposed a rule which would require issuers of mortgage-backed securities to hold a minimum 5 percent of the credit risk of the assets underlying their securities unless the deal is backed by “qualified residential mortgages.” The proposed rule would exempt ...

A number of distressed mortgage insurance companies with special covenants with state regulators and the government-sponsored enterprises are in danger of losing their ability to write new insurance as continued losses prevent them from meeting financial eligibility requirements. With credit trends further weakening in the second quarter, certain mortgage insurers, including Mortgage Guaranty Insurance Corp. and PMI Mortgage Insurance Co., could slip below minimum re-serve and surplus requirements, observers say. Already on capital-requirement waivers, the MIs could be ordered to stop ...

Community bankers are lobbying for an exemption from national mortgage servicing standards that are evolving from federal rule-makers and secondary-market investors, arguing that they could drive smaller companies out of the servicing business. Jack Hopkins, CEO of CorTrust Bank in Sioux Falls, SD, urged the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee this week to exempt small banks from new guidelines being drafted by banking and consumer protection regulators. Representing the Independent Community Bankers of America, Hopkins said the increased attention on mortgage servicing is raising ...