Capital markets

Bee Mortgage App will use blockchain and automation provided by Elphi to create "a COVID tool for real estate agents" to get fully digital mortgage approval in under three minutes.

The Structured Finance Association fears Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin may release the government-sponsored enterprises from conservatorship ahead of the change in administration, and that doing so could disrupt the mortgage-backed securities market.

To truly manage risk, banks must invest in more sophisticated modeling, reporting and analytics to track market movements and ultimately maximize profitability, Vice Capital Markets’ Christopher Bennett says.

The Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility was brought back to inject $100 billion into the pandemic-battered economy, but only a fraction has been disbursed. Yet experts, pointing to its calming effects on markets, recommend that it be extended into next year.

Lenders also increased jumbo product availability as well as rolling out new SOFR-indexed ARMs.

There have been several extensions of the policy since it was put into place as a way to sustain originations amid a wave of forbearance allocated to borrowers with government-related loans.

The substantial Series D fundraise fuels speculation on whether Better.com will be the next mortgage company to hop on the IPO trend.

Freddie Mac representatives would not comment on the sudden resignation of Brickman. Interim CEO Michael Hutchins has served as Freddie’s executive vice president of investments and capital markets since January 2015.

The sector’s leaders are hoping for better in 2021, while not forgetting lessons learned about the market’s risks in 2020.

FHA volumes, a key contributor to Ginnie Mae issuance, could fall as long as the refinancing boom continues — unless the FHA takes a step that could reverse that trend.