GSEs

With officials putting finishing touches on presidentially directed reports on the future of the housing finance system, the Senate Banking Committee announced a hearing to examine the issue.

The mortgage industry will be looking for answers when Treasury and HUD unveil reports on housing finance reform, but the Trump administration’s plans could also raise a whole new host of questions.

Sheila Bair, who holds board seats at several other organizations, will sit on Fannie's compensation, corporate governance and risk policy committees.

Trustees are concerned about obtaining proper consents from legacy residential mortgage-backed securities investors in a timely fashion in order to make the switch from Libor to another index, Fitch Ratings said.

Freddie Mac is automating a manual form submission process used to correct post-settlement and real estate owned data, and adding policy changes aimed at accommodating electronic signatures on loss mitigation documents.

Lower rates will likely sustain higher levels of origination through at least the third quarter, but supply constraints and economic weakness could limit the purchase market's response in the long term.

The regulator of the government-sponsored enterprises retreated from an earlier proposal that had barred VantageScore because of its ties to the credit bureaus.

Increased consumer debt and the threat of an economic downturn increase the default risk for government-sponsored enterprise mortgages during the first quarter, according to Milliman.

A gradual approach would help the market absorb loans affected by the government-sponsored enterprises' expiring qualified mortgage exemption, a Redwood Trust executive told analysts during a recent earnings call.

Fannie Mae's current tack could help it weather some of the new challenges confronting the government-sponsored enterprises, including the planned expiration of its qualified mortgage rule exemption and rate-driven earnings volatility.