A new GSE regulator proposed by Rep. Richard Baker, R-La., would have too much power to order a reduction in the size of Fannie Mae's and Freddie Mac's mortgage portfolios and limit their products and activities, according to Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass.The ranking Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee said he wants to "toughen the criteria" by which the regulator could mandate "severe reductions" in portfolio assets or other activities. He told MortgageWire that the new regulator should have the authority to restrict the size of the portfolios for safety-and-soundness reasons -- "not because of an ideological view that they are too big." Speaking to a rural housing conference, Rep. Frank pointed out that Federal Reserve Board Chairman Alan Greenspan has expressed worries about the risks of Fannie's and Freddie's mortgage portfolios, while the risks presented by unregulated hedge funds with trillions of dollars of obligations "don't bother him." He also warned that there is going to be a fight over the product approval section of the Baker bill. "It is aimed at protecting competitors, and it goes far beyond what is needed for safety and soundness," he said.
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Ohio-based Liberty Home Mortgage joins several companies who started using a more modernized FICO credit score for nonconforming mortgage originations recently.
8h ago -
The CFPB has dissolved the Office of Supervision, Enforcement and Fair Lending and eliminated the job of associate director in a move that impacts how it designates nonbanks for supervision.
9h ago -
The plan that the Federal Housing Finance Agency floated calls for Freddie Mac to actively invest in some new closed-end seconds as cash-out refinancing subsides.
April 17 -
The push comes amid what one expert highlighted as lax funding efforts for two Department of Housing and Urban Development grant programs.
April 17 -
Conventional lending drove volumes higher, particularly in the purchase market, the Mortgage Bankers Association said.
April 17 -
Net charge-offs at the Charlotte, North Carolina-based bank increased by more than 80% in the first quarter compared with a year earlier. BofA executives say that the rising losses were in line with the bank's risk appetite.
April 16