Secondary

Fourth-quarter increases in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac mortgage origination volume helped Walker & Dunlop reach a new quarterly high in revenue of $215 million.

Genworth's U.S. mortgage insurance unit's adjusted operating income increased over the previous year as the lower corporate tax rate and lower loss ratio overcame a 9% reduction in new insurance written.

After the State of the Union speech Tuesday night, members of the House and Senate banking committees said they were intent on trying to address the biggest unresolved piece of financial services policy: housing finance reform.

Recent developments give the impression that the administration and lawmakers are in direct competition, but the ultimate framework may rely on coordination from both branches of government.

Absent some policy change, nearly a third of the loans backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac could be in violation of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's Qualified Mortgage rule in two years.

Despite the release of Senate Banking Committee Chairman Mike Crapo's outline of a government-sponsored enterprise reform plan, most policy changes will likely come from the White House, and may even materialize this year, said Keefe, Bruyette & Woods.

As policymakers consider administrative reforms to Fannie and Freddie, they must address the problem of capital arbitrage to avoid overleveraging the mortgage system.

The New York Department of Financial Services disapproved the merger between Fidelity National Financial and Stewart Information Services, regulatory filings from both title insurance underwriters said.

Just as the Trump administration appears focused on releasing a framework without Congress, the Senate Banking Committee has re-entered the policy fray with a new proposal.

Residential mortgage-backed securities servicers are better able to weather a downturn and the resulting loan defaults today versus before the crisis because of their investments in technology and regulatory compliance, Fitch Ratings said.