Buyback risk is raising costs throughout the mortgage industry and causing lenders to boost cred-it standards beyond the levels required by investors, according to several experts at last week’s annual convention of the Mortgage Bankers Association. “The industry is spending hundreds of millions of dollars in repurchases and defending repurchases,” said David Stevens, chairman and CEO of the MBA. At a time when lenders are being pushed to “keep skin in the game,” a 5 percent risk-retention requirement for securitization might almost seem like a better deal than the costly repurchase process, he added. Brian Chappelle said...