Securitization

The Federal Housing Finance Agency issued a directive requiring Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to develop proposals for incorporating cryptocurrency into single-family mortgage loan risk assessments. The agency hopes this will help to promote sustainable homeownership. Read on »

President Donald Trump has vowed to end the conservatorship of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, drawing concerns and criticism from some lawmakers about the lack of details about how the administration plans on doing so and the potential impact to the mortgage market and the broader financial system. Read on »

As part of the government-sponsored enterprise’s ongoing effort to reduce its retained mortgage portfolio, Fannie Mae announced plans for its latest sale of non-performing loans. Read on »

The Federal Housing Finance Agency detailed its strategic plans to expand affordable housing opportunities for underserved communities through efforts to be undertaken by government-sponsored enterprises Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac over the next three years. Read on »

TD Bank pleaded guilty to felony charges and agreed to pay $3 billion in penalties to settle anti-money laundering (AML) violations levied by federal regulators and law enforcement agencies. In light of the detrimental impact to the U.S. financial system and the widespread illicit activity enabled by the bank’s negligence, federal officials coordinated the largest AML settlement in U.S. history. Read on »

The Securities and Exchange Commission reached a $10 million settlement with The Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. for its failure to timely notify legal and compliance officials about a system intrusion. As a result, nine wholly-owned subsidiaries, including the New York Stock Exchange, were unable to fulfill their timely reporting requirements regarding the cyber incident. Read on »

As the Federal Reserve announced for the sixth straight month that interest rates will remain unchanged, the agency signaled its plans to shift its approach to tackling inflation. This will entail reducing the amount of Treasury securities held on its balance sheet through a process commonly referred to as quantitative tightening. Fed Chair Jerome Powell offered a detailed explanation of the decision, and Mortgage Bankers Association Chief Economist Michael Fratantoni commented on the implications. Read on »

The Federal Reserve recently entered into a written agreement with Peoples-Marion Bancorp, Inc. Through a partnership with the Kentucky Department of Financial Institutions (KDFI), the Fed ordered the company to address multiple deficiencies related to the institution’s safety and soundness and remediating apparent legal and/or regulatory violations. Read on »

Many systems forced offline during loanDepot’s recent ransomware attack are operational again, according to a webpage devoted to keeping customers updated about its efforts to restore services. The nonbank originator is one of a string of companies hit by recent cyberattacks, which Federal Reserve Gov. Michael Barr referenced during a cybersecurity conference. Read on »

Industry advocates and regulators have signaled the need for major revisions to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s first proposed rulemaking tackling the topic of data privacy, as mandated under Sec. 1033 of the Dodd-Frank Act. Specifically, they believe the bureau should go further in addressing issues such as liability allocation and screen-scraping. A director from The Clearing House spoke to Dodd Frank Update in an exclusive interview about some of the recommended changes to the proposed rule. Read on »