Compliance & Regulation

Fannie and Freddie's profits depend on having their obligations backed by the U.S. Treasury. Therefore they should have to pay a sensible price for this backstop — just like big banks.

Promontory said Wednesday that it acquired FS Advisory from Date, who founded the consulting practice along with Fenway Summer in 2013 after leaving the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau as deputy director.

Mortgage bankers facing new demands on their businesses are becoming increasingly interested in new sources of liquidity, particularly through mortgage servicing rights financing vehicles.

Nonbank servicers selling and buying Fannie and Freddie MSRs must meet new capital and liquidity requirement to transfer servicing.

VidVerify, a new company started by a co-founder of Lenders One, produces online videos that educate borrowers on the milestones of the mortgage process, while helping lenders ensure regulatory compliance.

The Financial Stability Oversight Council is encouraging mortgage agencies to continue clarifying when lenders must repurchase defective loans.

Benjamin Lawsky, the New York regulator known for aggressive investigations and headline-grabbing fines against financial firms, is stepping down, and he reportedly plans to make a living offering banks and other companies advice.

With older appraisers retiring and fewer and fewer college graduates entering the profession, industry observers say that, in five to 10 years, there won't be enough appraisers to handle the volume of home sales. For lenders, that could mean higher appraisal fees and long delays in closing loans — at a time when technology could be speeding up the process.

Benjamin Lawsky will step down next month as New York's top bank regulator after four years, during which he threatened to take away the U.S. charters of some of the world's biggest banks and collected billions of dollars in penalties by being the squeaky wheel in global bank settlements.

The proposed legislation for regulatory relief seeks to roll back critical mortgage protections put in place to prevent another housing crisis.