GNMA Chief Wants Agency to Be a 'Solution' for Lenders

Marking his 90th day on the job as president of the Government National Mortgage Association, Theodore Tozer said his goal is to "do a better job managing the Ginnie Mae brand on Wall Street." Speaking at the MBA trade show, Tozer said, "We're here to make things happen, not just as a participant, but as a major plus" to the market. Fresh from a long career at the now-defunct National City Mortgage, the Ginnie Mae president told NMN he is trying to tweak the agency's long-running programs so they can become "major solutions" for lenders. A case in point are the pending program changes that will allow lenders to securitize a single loan as part of Ginnie Mae's multi-issuer pools and permit the agency to issue Ginnie Mae II pools on a daily rather than a monthly basis. The changes have been on Tozer's wish list since his days at NatCity, and are intended to give lenders of all sizes a substantial boost in liquidity. "Both changes make a lot of sense," Tozer said. "It's the still the same program. We just took a program that lenders didn't think much about and made it better." The Ginnie Mae president said he's heard a lot of "really positive" feedback from lenders who plan to use the changes to clean up their pipelines and turn over their loans more quickly. "People who understand the issue are already positive about it, and once the changes are up and running, people will be even more so," he said. The changes will take effect with Ginnie Mae's July's issuances.