Although it’s still unclear when the Treasury Department will release its blueprint for resolving the epic conservatorships of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and reforming the housing-finance system, industry officials are sifting through the Trump administration’s tea leaves. One source who claims to be familiar with Treasury’s thinking on the matter said a consensus is developing around a model where the government-sponsored enterprises re-emerge as “utilities” with little or ...
The news at the Federal Reserve this week can best be summarized by the term “status quo.” The U.S. central bank held interest rates unchanged, its plan to gradually unwind its massive portfolio continues unchanged, and President Trump nominated Fed governor Jerome Powell to succeed Janet Yellen, likely ensuring more of the same when it comes to the future of both interest rates and the balance sheet. When it came to rates, the Federal Reserve’s Open Market Committee ...
The Department of Justice has announced a non-prosecution deal with the Royal Bank of Scotland, which includes a $44 million settlement, to resolve a criminal probe of the bank’s activities in non-agency MBS and collateralized loan obligations. The probe accused the bank of defrauding more than 30 customers that purchased residential and commercial MBS as well as ABS over a five-year period beginning in 2008. The group that handled the sales of these securities for RBS was ...
There have been a number of moving parts in GSE shareholder cases recently, including oral arguments heard this week in one case and three separate lawsuits asking the Supreme Court of the United States to review the constitutionality of the structure of the Federal Housing Finance Agency. Attorney and managing partner David Thompson with Cooper & Kirk in Washington, D.C., who represents the shareholders in Christopher Roberts vs. FHFA, participated in this week’s oral arguments in the Seventh Circuit Court. He called the net-worth sweep unlawful because it imposed a “mandatory zero-capital regime and violated its own statutory commands to preserve and conserve assets and restore them to soundness.”
In a well-telegraphed move, federal regulators this week proposed reduced capital requirements for bank holdings of mortgage servicing assets, including mortgage servicing rights. The proposal issued late last week was part of an effort to “simplify” servicing-related capital requirements for all but the largest banks. The proposal would eliminate a 10 percent common equity tier 1 capital deduction threshold that currently applies to MSAs and certain other assets. Instead, a 25 percent deduction ...
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