Some observers think that resolving the long-running conservatorship of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac this year is closer than it has ever been, but they also say political differences present a number of challenges. There has been an uptick in momentum the past few months and the recent deal between the Federal Housing Finance Agency and the Treasury that allows the GSEs to retain $3 billion in capital is an optimistic sign of progress to many. Moreover, the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs is working on a draft of a GSE reform bill, and the House Financial Services Committee has held a handful of hearings on GSE reform issues in the fourth quarter in preparation for drafting legislation.
Investors might be seeing better performance from the credit rating agencies these days. In two new reports, the Securities and Exchange Commission says ratings firms are more compliant and are utilizing information technology to a greater extent, all while remaining competitive, especially some of the smaller ones.
Syncora Guarantee, Inc., an insurer of structured-finance transactions, has settled a long-running dispute with Greenpoint Mortgage Funding over hundreds of millions of dollars in losses on bundles of soured home-equity mortgages held in trust.
Progressives are worried that in 2019 a new Federal Housing Finance Agency director will takeover, undoing much of what they like about the current system…
When Fannie and Freddie request a fresh draw of taxpayer funds from Treasury to deal with their DTA "problem," it will poison the well for conservative Republicans...
Mortgage lenders pressing to get compliant with the new data collection and reporting require-ments under the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act got a bit of a reprieve, as the Consumer Financial Pro-tection Bureau and the other prudential regulators announced they would take “good-faith efforts” ap-proach to enforcement.
FHA saw many of the policies under the previous administration shelved during the first year of the Trump administration, including a proposal for a 25 basis point reduction in the annual mortgage in-surance premium, while waiting for a new commissioner to head the program.
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