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Inside The GSEs

August 5, 2011

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No New FHFA Director Nominee Expected

Mortgage market watchers and insiders on Capitol Hill report there is little chatter and seemingly even less enthusiasm from the White House to send to the Senate another nominee to serve as the permanent director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency.As the FHFA’s Acting Director Edward DeMarco is set to begin his third year as the Finance Agency’s “temporary” head next month, no one among the legislative staffers, trade association officials and industry insiders who spoke with Inside The GSEs said they expect a change in the status quo. But neither did they have anything discouraging to say about his leadership or job performance to date. Read More

FHLBank Earnings Drop In Second Quarter

The Federal Home Loan Bank Office of Finance announced late last week that preliminary combined net income for the FHLBanks fell 64 percent to $251 million in the second quarter, down from $698 million at the end of the fourth quarter 2010 and a drop of 23 percent from the same period last year.The FHLBank system’s lower profitability, which has been dwindling each quarter since the third quarter 2010 high of $732 million, was driven by a decline in yields on interest-bearing liabilities, as well as lower average balances of interest-earning assets and interest-bearing liabilities, said the Office of Finance. Read More

FNM, FRE, FHLBanks ‘Negative Outlook’

Despite the newly signed debt ceiling deal passed in the nick of time this week by Congress and signed by President Obama, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Federal Home Loan Banks remain at risk of having their AAA ratings downgraded if the government fails in the future to keep its fiscal house in order, according to Moody’s Investors Service.Moody’s confirmed the AAA government bond rating of the U.S. following the raising of the statutory debt limit on Aug. 2, but the credit rating agency assigned a “negative” rating outlook to Uncle Sam. Read More

National Archives Offers Tweaks to FHFA’s New FOIA Regulation

The Federal Housing Finance Agency may make a number of minor but important tweaks before finalizing changes to its existing Freedom of Information Act regulations. Read More

Geithner: No Master Servicer Role for FNM, FRE

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will not be branching out into the role of a “master servicer” in a new, yet-to-be-launched $2 billion bond program as top Republican members of the House Financial Services Committee feared, according to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner.In a letter dated July 21 and in response to a letter sent by Committee Chairman Spencer Bachus, R-AL, Vice Chairman Jeb Hensarling, R-TX, and four of the committee’s subcommittee chairman, Geithner firmly ruled out any participation by the two GSEs in Treasury’s loan-guarantee program. Read More

Fannie, Freddie Suspend Republic MI

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have each suspended Republic Mortgage Insurance Co. and its affiliate RMIC of North Carolina effective immediately as approved mortgage insurers after the GSEs concluded the mortgage insurer will no longer be able to meet mandatory capital requirements.According to Fannie’s July 29 announcement, RMIC breached its regulatory risk-to-capital limits required by North Carolina, the mortgage insurer’s state of domicile, as of Sept. 30, 2010. Read More

Loan Limit Wrangle to Resume in September

Look for the tug of war between proponents and opponents of extending high-cost loan limits for Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the FHA to go down the wire and even heat up when Congress returns from its summer break in September, Hill watchers predict.Unless Congress intervenes, the “emergency” high-cost market conforming loan limits that were enacted in 2008 will expire on Oct. 1. That would drop the top Fannie, Freddie and FHA loan limit from the current maximum $729,750 to $625,500. Read More

Freddie Rolls Out Servicer Ranking Program

A new evaluation program rolled out by Freddie Mac last week will soon provide each of the GSE’s servicers with a monthly ranking based on earned performance points allowing it to see how a servicer ranks relative to its competitors.Freddie’s Servicer Success Program, which took effect Aug. 1, replaces the GSE’s traditional performance-tiered ranking by evaluating servicer performance in investor reporting and remitting and default management. Read More

Fannie Pushes Servicing Guideline Effective Deadline Back to Oct. 1

Fannie Mae’s servicers have an additional 30 days to implement its new delinquency management and default prevention requirements, the GSE announced. In June, Fannie issued new servicing standards in compliance with the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s Servicing Alignment Initiative that the FHFA announced in April to establish consistent mortgage loan servicing and management requirements for servicers acting on behalf of Fannie and fellow GSE Freddie Mac. … Read More

FHFA Vows More Lawsuits to Recoup GSE Losses

The Federal Housing Finance Agency said last week to expect further litigation in its ongoing efforts to recover losses suffered by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in connection to the two GSEs’ investments in non-agency securities.Last week, the Finance Agency filed suit against UBS Americas Inc. and various related entities alleging misstatements and omissions of non-agency MBS purchased by Fannie and Freddie. Read More

Ethics Charges Against Rep. Waters Reinstated

The House Financial Services Committee’s second highest ranking Democrat is again facing ethics charges stemming from actions she allegedly took to aid a minority bank connected to her husband to recover losses it suffered when Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac preferred stock plummeted after the GSEs were put into conservatorship.The House Ethics Committee announced two weeks ago it will restart its investigation of ethics charges against Rep. Maxine Waters, D-CA, with the hiring of Washington, DC, attorney Billy Martin as an outside counsel to the committee to “review, revise and assist the committee in completing the matter.” Read More

Fannie Reports More Losses In Second Quarter

Fannie Mae said this week it would submit a request to the Treasury Department via the Federal Housing Finance Agency for an additional $5.1 billion to eliminate the GSE’s net worth deficit. Read More

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