Compliance & Regulation

Freddie Mac has taken out another reinsurance policy that transfers the risk that mortgages it insures will default.

The most recent outcry came from four housing groups that warned lawmakers last week that the proposal by the Federal Housing Finance Agency "would make harmful changes" to the FHLB membership rules.

It's hard to decide which is more surprising: that the largest U.S. bank has almost abandoned the business of making home loans insured by the Federal Housing Administration, that lots of big banks could be right behind it, or that the FHA might not even need to care.

Fannie Mae has completed a credit risk sharing transaction that transfers the actual losses on mortgages it insures — to reinsurers.

U.S. Attorney General Benjamin B. Wagner announced Thursday the arrest of three leaders of Shon-Te-East-A, an organization that eliminates practitioners' spiritually cumbersome mortgage debt.

Fannie Mae will be facing more competition in the HFA market as Freddie Mac and the FHLBs become more active.

Lenders that allow borrowers to shop for third-party settlement services face new liability, as the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's integrated mortgage disclosure rules will let borrowers sue over problems with vendor lists.

A recent uptick in mortgage application defects might be reversing, according to First American Financial.

GOP presidential contender Jeb Bush unveiled a plan to reform the regulatory process, including at agencies like the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Officials signaled that Hudson City Savings Bank's nearly $33 million settlement over redlining charges is only the first in what is likely to be a string of other cases.