Come year-end, will Franklin Raines be Fannie Mae's chairman and CEO? No oneis suggesting that Mr. Raines' departure from the mortgage giant is imminent, but there is talk in some politicaland industry circles that if there is a Kerry White House, Mr. Raines would be at the top of the list forthe Treasury secretary job which would be an interesting move since Fannie has a line of credit with theagency. This past fall Mr. Raines, in an interview with National Mortgage News, said he was donewith public service, which usually means no government job. But business partners of Fannie Mae who say they knowMr. Raines, believe that he wants to be a public servant again. (Mr. Raines was director of the Office of Managementand Budget in the Clinton White House and played a key role in that administration balancing the budget.)Keep in mind that Mr. Raines' predecessor at Fannie, Jim Johnson, has been hired by the Kerry camp to helpfind a VP candidate for the Massachusetts Democrat. If there is a Kerry White House, Mr. Johnson likely will playa role in picking other Kerry administration officials. (Mr. Johnson handpicked Mr. Raines to succeed him at Fannie.)But will Fannie Mae's board be sorry to see Mr. Raines go? One seller/servicer suggested the answer to that questionmight be no. The executive, requesting anonymity, pointed out that Fannie's stock has appreciated little the pastfive years. Indeed, back in late 1999, Fannie's stock was trading at about $70 a share. He suggested that "boardsdon't like to see the stock go nowhere"...
Some industry lobbyists described certain senators as being apoplectic about a TV commercialthat Fannie began airing just days before the Senate Banking Committee began deliberations on its GSE regulatorybill. Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., said he found it "astonishing that a government-chartered enterprisewould challenge our right to consider this legislation," adding that "this kind of junk does not helpthe debate." In the ad, which appeared on CNBC and other television outlets, a Hispanic couple talkover coffee about the pending bill and how it might lead to higher mortgage rates. The husband says, "It lookslike Congress is talking about new regulations on Fannie Mae." At the end of the ad a narrator says, "There'sa lot at stake as Congress considers changes in home finance. Taking the wrong path will close the door of homeownershipto millions of Americans"...
McDonald's not steaks: RBC Mortgage is trying to cut costs. According to an analystpresentation available on its website the Canadian-owned mortgage lender (whose growth rate was the second weakestamong the top 25 funders) will engage in an "extensive" monitoring of employee expenses including travelexpenses, professional services, dues and donations. There goes that MBA membership? Why is RBC doing this?Because profit margins at the unit are slipping...
At a company investors conference Tuesday, Countrywide said it hopes to more than doubleannual pretax earnings to $7.5 billion by 2008. This year, Countrywide estimates that it will earn $3.5 billionon a pretax basis. See Monday's edition of NMN for more details...
Morgan Stanley last week said it was discontinuing coverage of LandAmerica'sstock, "due to a reallocation of resources." Analyst Ken Posner said his final rating on the stockis "equal-weight" with a $52 price target. The analyst added that LandAmerica's opportunity for growthshould be in-line with the growth in mortgage debt...
Subprime lender First Franklin Financial says, "In a move to simplify the refinanceprocess for borrowers with adjustable-rate mortgages and for mortgage brokers looking to manage the anticipatedincrease in refinance business," it has launched a new "RapidRefi" program. "There was a surgeof ARM production originated over the past three years that will be adjusting within the next couple of years.Because rates have dropped again, we expect that a lot of people who missed the last refi boom will want to takeadvantage and refinance their homes this time around," said Andy Pollock, president and CEO of FirstFranklin...
On April 15 (tax day) WMC Direct will hold a bash to celebrate the opening of its newNortheast processing center. The party (invitation only) is being held at the Crobar in the Clinton neighborhoodof Manhattan. In the old days Clinton (no relation to the president) went by another name -- Hell's Kitchen, butthat was before gentrification...
WASHINGTON NEWS: Amazing what killing (er, I mean going back to fix what's broken)RESPA reform can do for your career. The Senate Banking Committee on Tuesday unanimously approved the nominationof Alphonso Jackson to be the new secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development. OnThursday, he was sworn into the job...
Go ahead and ship those mortgage back office jobs overseas. It's okay. Who says so? Treasurysecretary John Snow, that's who. He's the latest Bush administration official to jump on the "shippingU.S. jobs overseas is good" band wagon...
At a hearing on subprime lending this past week, elected officials had no idea how large thesubprime market had grown to. The number frequently quoted was $200 billion. But according to NMN's QuarterlyData Report statistical newsletter, all subprime funders originated almost $400 billion last year.
MORTGAGE PEOPLE: Florida-based BankUnited Financial has named Paul Smootnational sales manager in charge of wholesale lending. He was previously a regional sales manager in the group.American Mortgage Network has named Anthony F. Rios vice president and production manager of itsnew subprime division. Ellie Mae has appointed Gunnar Bergstrom vice president of business developmentfor lender services. In his new role at Ellie Mae, Mr. Bergstrom will manage strategic lender relationships.
MORTGAGE NEWS COVERAGE: Any reporter covering Fannie Mae knows that the mortgage giant'schief spokesman is widely known as Chuck Greener. But in a story in its Thursday edition, the WashingtonPost identified him as Charles V. Greener. The story was written by Post reporters Kathy Dayand Davey Hilzenrath. Strangely enough, the very next day, in another story on Fannie, the same two reporterswere back to calling him Chuck.
MORTGAGE DATA NOTICE: Full-year production rankings (top 100 for prime and top 50 for
MORTGAGE SURVEY NOTICE: NMN is still conducting its full-year 2003 production
