FHFA

FHFA Director Mark Calabria said the hiring of an advisor, in particular, marked a significant milestone.

Read on for more details from the regulator of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

In calls with media, the CEOs from both companies discussed their positive finish to the year, as well as the work they are doing in digital transformations around the mortgage transaction.

Read on for details from the company’s reports.

The financial industry has been afforded the first month of 2020 to weigh in on a mandatory review of the risk retention mortgage (QRM) final rule, finalized in 2014 in accordance with the Dodd-Frank Act.

Stakeholders also are encouraged to suggest potential changes to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s Qualified Mortgages definition, which is aligned with the QRM standard.

Learn more details about what the review will entail.

Numerous financial trade associations wrote Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) Director Mark Calabria to stress the urgency of publishing a new regulatory capital rule for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in the Federal Register.

The trades cited several possible economic and political ramifications that could negate progress toward finalizing a rule to recapitalize the government-sponsored enterprises.

Find out more about the specific concerns expressed in the letter.

The latest milestone reached by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in the process of implementing their new redesigned Uniform Residential Loan Application (URLA) and updated automated underwriting systems (AUS) is one that offers clarity on future steps in the implementation process itself.

The government-sponsored enterprises published a timeline, setting dates for the next major milestones in testing and integrating the new standards into the loan production process prior to the mandatory compliance date for exclusive use of the new URLA and AUS specifications.

Get more details about key dates to circle in 2020.

In light of newly agreed upon plans to recapitalize Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) is going back to the drawing board with capital requirements for the government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs).

The agency announced that it will scrap its 2018 capital rule proposal and issue a new one at some point in 2020.

Learn more details about the agency’s reasoning in taking such a step.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency is seeking public input on practices used to form “To-Be-Announced” (TBA)-eligible Uniform Mortgage-Backed Securities (UMBS). 

Specifically, the agency also is soliciting feedback about the government-sponsored enterprises’ oversight of UMBS prepayment speeds and alignment and other policies and practices that might affect UMBS fungibility.

Find out more about the agency’s new request of feedback.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) took another step toward its goal of ending the conservatorship of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac with Mark Calabria’s announcement that such a goal was built into the agency’s newly finalized 2020 Scorecard and Strategic Plan for the government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) at the Mortgage Bankers Association’s 2019 Annual Convention.

Stressing how critical raising capital is to releasing the GSEs from conservatorship and that FHFA is not forecasting a downturn, he explained that time is of the essence to get that done before the economy becomes less favorable. 

Learn more details revealed by the director during the event.

The federal financial regulatory environment has undergone some dramatic shifts under the leadership of Trump administration appointees. Even the savviest professionals could use the guidance of a couple of well-versed experts to interpret what these changes mean for their compliance priorities.

Dodd Frank Update’s “Regulatory and CFPB Update” webinar features insight from former Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) attorney Richard Horn of Garris Horn Legal PLLC and is moderated by Mortgage Cadence Vice President of Marketing and Chief Storyteller Pamela Hermann.

Get more information on how to access the valuable insight contained in this webinar.

Financial industry advocates noted their concerns about draft legislation on third-party vendor authority with regard to third-party cloud storage providers in letters to House leaders.

The draft legislation proposes to amend the Bank Service Company Act to cover vendors of credit unions and entities supervised by the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) to the same extent as it covers banks and savings associations.

Find out what financial trade associations had to say about the proposed measure.