Compliance

Monetary policymakers should recognize that the housing bust will have a lasting effect on the U.S. economy and should adjust their expectations to relatively slow GDP growth.

Multiplying federal and state regulation that has triggered the issuance of new rules and requirements further down the chain at the local level is mounting pressure on mortgage banks in search of new ways to conduct mortgage loan reviews and ensure they stay in compliance.

Regulatory pressures have given the mortgage industry headaches along with a renewed motivation to create more efficient solutions.

As Fannie Mae's July 1 deadline approaches, lenders and servicers must meet the GSE's requirement to satisfy homeowners association claims in order to preserve their first lien position.

When veteran regulator Tim Long announced his retirement from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency last year, the agency quickly replaced him with David Wilson, its deputy comptroller for credit risk. To do so, however, officials had to work around the strict ethics rules governing federal employees because Wilson, who would oversee supervision policy for all national banks, is married to a high-level executive at Bank of America.

Green Tree Servicing, a unit of Walter Investment Management Corp., will begin servicing about 4,000 Bank of America mortgages this month as part of the bank's mandate to hire delinquent-loan specialists under a widely watched investor settlement.

Wil Armstrong, CEO of Blueberry Systems and chairman of Cherry Creek Mortgage, discusses how origination technology can help lenders' retained servicing strategies.

Are the instructive lessons of the past sufficiently integrated into current industry business models and strategic planning?

Orrstown Financial Services has been hit with a lawsuit alleging that it misled investors about its financial strength during its March 2010 stock offering.

The California State Legislature passed legislation on two issues that will be included in the state’s Homeowner Bill of Rights and help protect homeowners from mortgage scams.

A new Lender Processing Services offering helps servicers match first and subordinate liens on a property to streamline the process of modifying mortgages for distressed borrowers.

Treasury Department officials are working with the Federal Housing Finance Agency on ways to structure Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac MBS, allowing private investors to share in some of the credit risk on government-guaranteed securities.

Credit unions are working to protect their net interest margins without adding undue interest rate risk and CFOs expect their attention in the second half of the year will remain on squeezing what they can from investment portfolios.

Residential Capital’s bankruptcy filing on May 14 is a credit negative for two major bond insurers, Moody’s Investors Service said.

Fitch Ratings and Kroll Bond Ratings will rate the $1.1 billion CMBS conduit deal backed by 61 fixed-rate commercial mortgage loans that are secured by 80 properties.

While rules can be attractive when setting monetary policy, they cannot replace analysis, according to Federal Reserve Bank of New York President William Dudley.

When the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency announced in the spring of 2011 that a group of major mortgage servicers had signed consent orders agreeing to a host of new regulations and reforms, the regulatory landscape of the mortgage servicing industry was fundamentally altered in ways that would have a profound and lasting impact.

Combining Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae’s MBS in the TBA market sounds like it is not impossible, but is much easier said than done.

Officials at Old Republic International Corp., and its new private mortgage insurance holding company Republic Financial Indemnity Group Inc. are still talking about plans to once again start underwriting mortgage insurance policies.

What often seems to be overwhelming regulatory compliance demands will "continue to be an issue" for the foreseeable future, according to one analyst, who is recommending all credit unions have a designated compliance officer.