The average daily trading volume in agency MBS totaled a tepid $199.8 billion in August, the lowest reading since May, according to figures compiled by the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association. Then again, volume wasn’t too far off trading activity in the prior two months, which came in at $200.5 billion and $200.9 billion. It appears that investors haven’t had...

Much of the historical discussion about the mortgage industry going fully digital and adopting e-mortgages has revolved around cost savings, greater efficiencies, validating compliance and other benefits. But at the end of the day, the biggest reason is that lenders’ customer base is increasingly focused on digital technology, and lenders need to go where the borrowers are. “That’s where the consumers are, right? Finally, everybody’s going online to shop for most of their products, and mortgages are starting to happen the same way,” said Tim Anderson, director of eServices for DocMagic, during a webinar last week sponsored by Inside Mortgage Finance. “They’re going out there looking for rates and pricing, they’re looking for real estate. If you want to capture that marketplace, you meet them out there in cyberspace.” Scott Stephen, president of the online division of Guaranteed Rate, noted...

Lenders and investors at the ABS East conference this week hit officials from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau with a number of complaints about the agency’s mortgage rules. The bureau officials suggested that data will have more of an impact on policy changes than general complaints. Patrick Orr, a policy analyst at the CFPB, reiterated that the bureau is accepting feedback and considering changes or guidance for the TILA-RESPA Integrated Disclosure rule, special qualified-mortgage standards that apply to loans eligible for sale to the government-sponsored enterprises and aspects of the ability-to-repay rule, among other issues. A representative from one lender said...

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has put out some proposed guidance on the controversial matter of how much of the expanded data collected under the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act will be made available to the public. The bureau did not announce any delay in the effective date of the revamped HMDA rule, slated to take effect Jan. 1, 2018. First, the agency wants to exclude several of the loan-level data points from public disclosure, including the universal loan identifier, the application date, the date the financial institution took action and the property address. Also, it would shield the borrower’s credit score, the mortgage loan originator ID number and any result generated by an automated underwriting system. Additionally, the CFPB is...

Unless the Federal Housing Finance Agency acts soon, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will see their capital buffers fall to zero on Jan. 1, 2018. Having zero capital may not be a big deal, initially – but a new complication has arrived in the form of hurricanes Harvey and Irma. According to Tim Rood, chairman of The Collingwood Group, the government-sponsored enterprises are not looking at losses “that will cost tens of billions of dollars – but they don’t need to be. The capital buffer is small as it is. And if a credit event happens, it could wipe out the thin layer of capital they have in a hurry.” If Rood – a former Fannie executive – is correct, the GSEs might have...

Trade groups representing smaller mortgage lenders are asking the Trump administration for targeted regulatory relief for smaller independent mortgage bankers. In a joint letter to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin this week, the Community Home Lenders Association and the Community Mortgage Lenders of America urged the administration to back legislation that would exempt independent mortgage lenders from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s supervision, enforcement and third-party vendor audits. Support is also being sought for CFPB administrative action to provide such targeted relief. In June, Treasury issued...

Over the past several weeks, the Treasury Department has been meeting with several industry trade groups about the future of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, discussing – among other things – what to do about the impending “zero capital” problem as well as the topic of multiple guarantors. Treasury’s goal, these officials said, is to come up with a workable blueprint on the future of the government-sponsored enterprises and the nation’s housing finance system – changes that might touch Ginnie Mae as well. Late this week there was...

Issuers of ABS are utilizing diverse structures to comply with the risk-retention requirements of the Dodd-Frank Act, according to a new sector commentary by analysts at Moody’s Investors Service. “Although securitization sponsors’ retention of portions of their own deals in general is credit positive … the rules have effectively just formalized prior common industry practices for many consumer ABS subsectors. This confirms our initial stance that the rules are only marginally credit positive for this sector,” said Vice President and Senior Analyst Yan Yan and Vice President and Senior Credit Officer Jingjing Dang. “That said, the methods of compliance that have emerged among ABS asset classes since the rules went into effect in December have varied.” Their first take-away is...

When House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling, R-TX, first introduced the second version of his Financial CHOICE Act, he acknowledged the comprehensive regulatory relief package might not make it through the Senate in one piece. He said he had a “short game” and a “long game,” suggesting he was open to small, incremental change while still pushing forward with more comprehensive change over the long haul. Last week, the Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit Subcommittee executed a little of that “short game” strategy, holding a hearing to consider a handful of legislative proposals to foster a more efficient federal financial regulatory regime, including two mortgage-related bills. The potentially more significant bill is...

An official from the CFPB confirmed late last week the agency is looking into the massive data breach at Equifax, widely seen as the most significant, and potentially most damaging, so far in the age of the Internet. A spokesman for the bureau told this newsletter, “The CFPB has authority over the consumer reporting industry, including supervisory and enforcement authority. The CFPB is authorized to take enforcement action against institutions engaged in unfair, deceptive or abusive acts or practices, or that otherwise violate federal consumer financial laws. We are looking into the data breach and Equifax’s response, but cannot comment further at this time.” However, it’s not just the occurrence of the breach that bothers the consumer regulator. As part ...