What We're Hearing

In the Monday edition of National Mortgage News, we report that former Government National Mortgage Association chief Joe Murin is advocating that the agency should be cut loose from the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Mr. Murin goes as far to suggest that GNMA should be given a new charter that provides the agency with independence. Mr. Murin's idea comes at a time when GNMA issuance volume (not surprisingly) is booming. Mr. Murin runs The Collingwood Group, a somewhat new advisory firm based in Washington. Its website declares that the financial services industry "is transformed. From the global economic crisis has come permanent change. It is change that is evolving by the day. It's unsettled. It's uncertain." You can't argue with those sentiments...