Freddie Mac

Fannie Mae identified the adoption of hedge accounting and regular issuance of multifamily Connecticut Avenue Securities deals as among strategies it could continue to pursue while navigating regulatory uncertainties and change.

Five MBS pools of predominantly non-QM mortgages have been launched into the market by originators and loan aggregators, according to ratings agency presale reports published since Monday.

The unsuccessful scheme has become the focus of a legal battle involving two former Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco employees against that government-sponsored enterprise, which fired them in 2018.

The biggest issuers of bonds tied to the benchmark tapped to replace U.S. dollar Libor are suddenly pulling back, a potential blow to efforts by regulators to wean the financial system off a much-maligned reference rate.

The government-sponsored enterprises’ plan to cease accepting loans pegged to the London interbank offered rate a year ahead of its scheduled expiration is expected to hasten action in securitized markets.

With policymakers focused on ending Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s conservatorship, their regulator is reorganizing key units and adding staff to position itself for the long term.

The regulator said the investment bank and financial services company will help in the process of strengthening Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s capital standing for their eventual exit from conservatorship.

Now that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau says it will scrap an unpopular standard for so-called qualified mortgages, the big question is what will take its place.

The agency is sending a strong message that it won’t rush to end an exemption for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac while also signaling longer-term changes that will affect all lenders.

Director Kathy Kraninger has told lawmakers that the agency will delay the expiration of the so-called QM patch, now set for January 2021.