FHFA

Because of the economic uncertainty related to the ongoing pandemic, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) proposed its 2021 housing goals to remain at the levels which they were for 2018-2020.

The proposal would establish housing goals for single-family and multifamily housing.

Read on for more details from FHFA’s announcement.

The Financial Stability Oversight Council met earlier this month in executive session by telephone.

The highlight news coming from the meeting was the announcement that the council would begin an activities-based review of secondary mortgage market activities.

Read on for more details, and reaction from Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Mark Calabria.

As chairmen of the financial committees in Congress in 2010, Christopher Dodd and Barney Frank had their names go down in history when the financial reform package they authored was signed into law as the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.

A decade later, the two men sat down for a conversation about the impact of their work, how financial reform has been implemented and what remains to be done.

Read on for details from their assessments.

Months after ruling on the constitutionality of the structure of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the Supreme Court has agreed to address the issue for another federal agency.

The Supreme Court granted writs of certiorari to a pair of cases, Collins v. Mnuchin and Mnuchin v. Collins, which will be consolidated and heard in the court’s fall term.

Read on for more details about the decision.

The latest quarterly mortgage lender survey from Fannie Mae found that, although lenders expected their profit margins to fall in the second quarter, they expect refinance demand to drive profitability in the quarter.

“Lenders, profitability outlook remains positive, likely because of stable refinance demand, lender capacity constraints, and still-wide mortgage spreads,” Chief Economist Doug Duncan said.

Read on for more details from the survey of lenders.

The new guidance concerns the age of documentation to be used, standards for power of attorney, changes to quality control requirements, broadening use of remote online notarization and more.

Read on for details from the updated guidance.

Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Mark Calabria appeared before the Senate Banking Committee on June 9 and discussed the re-proposal of capital requirements for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to exit conservatorship.

Those rules, which are in a 60-day comment period now, would require the agencies to raise $234 billion before they could prepare to exit conservatorship.

Read on for more details from Calabria’s remarks.

The Mortgage Bankers Association moved its Technology Solutions Conference online this year, hosting the virtual show June 1-2.

A pair of notable news items came out of the show, both centered around the status and use of eNotes.

Read on for details from the conference.

The last time Dodd Frank Update  spoke with Ed Delgado was two months ago, in the middle of March, just as the country and industry began to understand the effect the pandemic would have on everyone.

Now, with 4 million borrowers in forbearance, and the unemployment rate near 15 percent, we caught up again with the President and CEO of Five Star Global, LLC, and talked about the work which the COVID-19 Mortgage Industry Task Force has done to prepare for the onslaught.

“I think we’re facing the calm before the storm,” Delgado said. Read on for more from our interview.

The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) on May 19 conducted a virtual event on the State of the Industry which featured appearances from Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Mark Calabria, Department of Housing and Urban Development Deputy Secretary Brian Montgomery and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Kathy Kraninger.

The event also featured an economic update from MBA Chief Economist Mike Fratantoni and staff.

Read on for details from the event.