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...

Rep. Maxine Waters, D-CA, the ranking member of the panel, would not acknowledge that Mulvaney is the head of the agency but asked him questions anyway.

Wertheimer testified that during her tenure, the FHFA-OIG has issued 85 reports and made 117 recommendations to address supervisory shortcomings.

The Department of Veterans Affairs is close to issuing a final anti-churning rule to better protect veterans from predatory lending practices as well as developing an end-to-end system to monitor loan performance from origination to servicing.

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.

With GSE reform all but dead, rumors about possible administrative changes abound...

Fitch said the $3 billion reserve should be sufficient to cover income volatility during “the normal course of business, as seen when interest-rate volatility results in valuation adjustments within the GSEs’ derivative portfolios.”

Mulvaney – a former GOP Congressman from South Carolina and a Tea Party acolyte – declared: “The Bureau’s new strategic priorities are to recognize free markets and consumer choice and to take a prudent, consistent, and humble approach to enforcing the law.”

Bright said actions Ginnie has taken send a clear message to the industry and to investors that it is intent on eliminating the problem.