Compliance & Regulation

A report due next week on the Federal Housing Administration's financial health is expected to show that the agency's reserve fund has significantly improved over the past year.

Mel Watt, director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, has set off a political tempest.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau slapped Franklin Loan Corp. with a $730,000 fine on Thursday for allegedly incentivizing loan officers to guide customers into mortgages with higher interest rates.

Fannie Mae has entered into deals with JPMorgan Chase and other companies that transfer some of the credit-loss risk on mortgage-backed securities to investors. Not only do these deals reduce the danger that taxpayers could be forced to cover the GSEs losses, they may help make mortgages more affordable.

Republicans are unlikely to push the ball forward on reform of the federal housing agencies, but Congress has a number of other opportunities to make changes that will encourage mortgage lending.

Trade groups press federal banking regulators to make the Basel III capital rule less onerous.

Regulators are preparing rules to curb financial risks of expanding nonbank mortgage companies after investigating homeowner complaints that include improper foreclosures and unauthorized fees.

A new multifamily investment product will for the first time allow Freddie Mac to buy and guarantee bonds backed by multifamily loans that were originally underwritten by private entities.

The company cited uncertainties with industrywide litigation and the regulatory environment in the move. In August, a New York regulator questioned its purchase of the unit from an affiliated company.

The Supreme Court has agreed to consider a case related to the use of disparate impact theory to charge organizations with discrimination under the Fair Housing Act.