Lawrence Parks, a former FHLB-SF executive, believes an FHLB plan to buy Freddie seems as plausible as other ideas that pass for GSE reform.

Treasury and FHFA say it is still “premature to comment on specific capital levels” necessary to release the GSEs from conservatorship.

Presidential candidate Mike Bloomberg’s plan to merge the GSEs actually got the other Democratic candidates to talk about MBS.

Former Treasury official Craig Phillips joins HouseCanary.

According to court filings, beginning in 2016, the FHLB-SF developed a proposal for the bank to purchase one of the GSEs. To assist in the process, the bank also engaged the services of McKinsey Consulting.

In a contract worth up to $45 million over four years, the M&A specialist will help FHFA develop “a roadmap to responsibly end the conservatorships” of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

All applications for LIBOR-based single-family and multifamily ARMs must be dated Sept. 30 or earlier or they won’t be eligible for sale to the GSEs.

FHFA Director Mark Calabria is delivering on his promise to revamp the agency in preparation for the end of the GSE conservatorships.

The CFPB plans to move away from the use of DTI as a criteria for a qualified mortgage, and instead opt for a pricing threshold.

SIFMA said the Ginnie-like market structure proposed by FHFA isn’t appropriate for conventional MBS. Moreover, the plan doesn’t address the continued misalignment of MBS issued by Fannie and Freddie.