Regulatory reform

The biggest impact may be to focus the administration’s efforts on selecting a nominee to succeed Director Mel Watt, whose term ends in January.

Fannie Mae’s treatment of a reperforming loan package helped drive up earnings by almost 41% to $4.5 billion, delivering a stronger dividend to Treasury ahead of a leadership change.

Whoever succeeds current Director Mel Watt will have a front-and-center role in efforts to reform Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency is suspending its ongoing review of new credit scoring models and will instead move forward with creating a regulatory framework for providers of alternative credit scores to apply and be evaluated for use by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

The federal bank regulators are considering roughly a dozen new rulemakings in response to the bill rolling back certain sections of Dodd-Frank.

The nominee to run the consumer bureau endured tough questioning over the administration’s family-separation policy but appeared to weather the barrage.

With ruling in GSE case, the two agencies are emerging as the test subjects for a legal showdown over their authority.

A more conservative court will be likelier to rule favorably on issues ranging from the deference for regulatory agencies to what constitutes a fair-lending violation.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's practice of "regulation by enforcement" and use of nonbinding guidance materials makes its regulatory efforts "unfair and ineffective" to lenders and servicers, the Mortgage Bankers Association said.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency’s bulletin is seen as just one piece of the regulatory puzzle to coax banks into installment lending.