Last week the Federal Home Finance Administration issued an Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPR) which outlines proposed changes in membership requirements for Federal Home Loan Banks (Banks). The 12 Banks, regionally dispersed throughout the United States, were originally organized in 1932...
The Federal Home Finance Agency FHFA) has issued the final rules for the three financial entities it oversees and an advance notice of proposed rulemaking for the Federal Home Loan Banks (Banks.) The three final rules, all of which have been through a period of public comment, concern GSE portfolio holdings...
We are coming to the close of a watershed year in the financial services field. The most far reaching financial legislation since the era of reform under Franklin D. Roosevelt passed; the Dodd-Frank Financial Reform Act and creation of the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau. Every sector of the federal...
Originally published in the December 2010 issue of Asset Securitization Report There is a reasonable chance that the incoming Congress will finally attempt to tackle the contentious issue of GSE reform. However, radical changes to the GSEs (with some discussion of eliminating them entirely) have the...
Thomas M. Hoenig, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, characterized the recent housing collapse as a classic asset-price bubble spurred by low interest rates, easily accessible and often-unsound financing, over-optimism about housing price trends, and a high - and difficult to control...
I've been very busy over the past few weeks answering questions regarding the foreclosure mess and the accompanying “robo-signing” dilemma. What surprises me are not the concerns over systematic risks surrounding the issue or whether or not fraud has occurred, but the fact that everyone I’ve...
Our mortgage banking clients continue to experience delays in the loan purchasing process. This issue reflects an increase in refinance application volume. The uptick in production activity combined with heightened compliance requirements and a greater number of investor overlays has clogged back shop...
The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) has released projections showing possible future financial performances of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and the potential draws from the U.S. Treasury under terms of the Preferred Stock Purchase Agreements (PSPAs). To date Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have drawn...
The Dodd- Frank Bill has laid out a pathway for future operations in the financial services arena. However, the road has not yet been paved. The job of laying the pavement has been left to individual industry regulators who have 270 days from the date of passage to develop, write, publish, submit for...
H.R. 3081 : Making Continuing Appropriations for Fiscal Year 2011, and For Other Purposes, passed the House of Representatives this morning. Buried in that legislation was authorization to extend current loan limits for mortgages provided through Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and the Federal Housing Administration...