Dodd-Frank

The persistent opposition to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau — which has been fierce since day one — has been puzzling, and has been cloaked in misleading arguments about the structure of the agency.

President-elect Donald Trump's choice of well-known Wall Street lawyer Jay Clayton to head the Securities and Exchange Commission was a relatively safe move that suggests his other financial appointments may be equally conservative, industry observers said.

The Senate Banking Committee will have six fresh faces in the new Congress as Republicans grapple with a slimmer majority.

The new year is shaping up to be the one in which sizable changes to the Dodd-Frank Act are finally enacted, thanks to Republican victories in the White House, Senate and House.

Some of the most popular contributors to National Mortgage News' Voices community weigh in on what they see coming in the next year for origination, servicing, technology and regulation.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau faces a precarious and uncertain future in 2017 with all eyes focused on two questions: whether President-elect Donald Trump will attempt to fire agency director Richard Cordray and if Congress can successfully restructure the agency by changing its leadership and funding.

State mortgage regulators and attorneys general are likely to step up enforcement of lending rules if the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau takes a less activist stance in the Trump administration.

Although Steven Mnuchin has close ties to Wall Street and was involved in some contentious deals, Democrats face an uphill battle making the case that those connections disqualify him to serve as Treasury secretary.

While mortgage servicers are prohibited from early compliance with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's final servicing rule, there are a few steps they can take now ahead of the rule's effective date.

One step the government can take to strengthening housing is to create a unified office dedicated to housing finance and policy, streamlining and making more efficient existing agencies and programs.