The Government National Mortgage Association (GNMA) approved 35 issuer licenses last year and hopes to approve about the same this year, according to agency president Ted Tozer.
Of the 35 that were approved, 22 residential lenders actually issued mortgage-backed securities guaranteed by the agency.
In an interview with National Mortgage News, Tozer said the agency has three full-timers working on license approvals and hopes to double that number to six shortly.
In 2011, roughly 85 applications were filed with Ginnie with several firms deciding at some point to withdraw from the process, Tozer said
