Compliance & Regulation

The federal government should create an entirely new secondary market agency for "high quality" private mortgages that would replace Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, according to Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga.

The Mortgage Bankers Association, in a new comment letter, strongly urges the government not to change the current GSE servicing compensation model, shooting down a FHFA proposal that would pay loan processors $10 per month for performing loans.

The Senate this week passed a six-month extension of the National Flood Insurance Program and supporters are hopeful the House will act quickly to prevent any disruption in the issuance of new policies.

Attorney General Eric Holder this week appointed Michael Bresnick as the new executive director of President Obama's financial fraud enforcement task force, which includes mortgage oversight.

After rating the performance of its top 10 HAMP servicers, the Treasury Department said JPMorgan Chase, and Bank of America need to make further improvements before they receive incentive payments from the government.

The mortgage industry is having growing concerns about a payroll tax relief measure that would raise GSE guarantee fees by 12.5 basis points, using the additional revenues to pay for other government programs.

Agency prepayment speeds came in line with expectations in the 30-year sector, where they were up 3% from the previous month, according to Credit Suisse's fixed income research report Wednesday.

The Attorneys General of California and Nevada are combining their investigative forces to combat misconduct and fraud within the mortgage industry against state homeowners.

Although a Senate Banking Committee hearing on Tuesday featured testimony from top officials at six different financial regulators, it was an agency not in the room that drew the most attention.

A key federal regulator is signaling that banking agencies are not close to formulating final regulations that address risk retention on mortgage securitizations.