Federal regulators spend a large portion of the waning months of each year compiling reports on their activities and data collected pertaining to the industries they oversee and the state of their operations. In this regulatory roundup, you will find summaries of some of these reports that may hold details helpful to understanding the role they play in the housing and financial markets:
FHFA releases 2025 GSE Scorecard
The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) released the 2025 Scorecard for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, establishing various objectives for the government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) to operate safely and soundly, develop risk management frameworks, and support market improvements in housing supply and affordability, among other priorities. The agency releases a scorecard for the GSEs annually to communicate FHFA’s priorities and expectations for both the GSEs and Common Securitization Solutions, LLC (CSS) in a transparent manner. Learn more here.
OCC issues 2024 annual report to Congress
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) published its 2024 annual report to Congress with an overview of the condition of the federal banking system, detailing the OCC’s strategic priorities and initiatives, and sharing the agency’s financial management and condition. The report highlights the OCC’s work to advance Acting Comptroller of the Currency Michael Hsu’s four priorities — guarding against complacency, elevating fairness, adapting to digitalization, and managing climate-related financial risks. Collectively, these priorities form the foundation of the OCC’s efforts to maintain the public’s trust in the banking system. Read more here.
SEC adopts new broker-dealer rule amendments
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) adopted amendments to Rule 15c3-3, also known as the “customer protection rule,” to require certain broker-dealers to increase the frequency with which they perform computations of the net cash they owe to customers and other broker-dealers from weekly to daily. The SEC also adopted amendments to Rule 15c3-3 and Rule 15c3-1 (the broker-dealer net capital rule) to allow certain broker-dealers that perform a daily customer reserve calculation to decrease the required 3 percent “buffer” in the customer reserve bank account by reducing the customer-related receivables, or “aggregate debit items,” charge from 3 percent to 2 percent in the computation. Learn more about these amendments here.
NCUA releases Q3 state-level data report
The National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) released a report detailing state-level data on assets and loans at federally insured credit unions for the year ending in the third quarter of 2024. The latest NCUA Quarterly U.S. Map Review indicated these metrics increased while shares and deposits declined. Nationally, median asset growth over the year ending in the third quarter of 2024 was 0.3 percent, compared with a 1.6 percent decline during the same period one year ago. During the previous year, loans increased by 8.5 percent at the median. At the end of the third quarter of 2024, the median total delinquency rate among federally insured credit unions was 65 basis points, compared with 53 basis points at the end of the third quarter of 2023. Get more details here.