Risk management

Genworth Financial's mortgage insurance business, which had slipped in market share, has more certainty about its future prospects after a federal government committee approved the holding company's acquisition by China Oceanwide.

Private mortgage insurance was used on approximately 4% fewer loans in 2017 when compared with 2016, according to the U.S. Mortgage Insurers.

As mortgage lenders continue seeking ways get more trustworthy consumers into the housing market, a majority of them are utilizing alternative credit as a means of assessing borrower risk, according to Experian.

As the mortgage industry moves farther past the housing crisis, access to credit remains tight, especially for first-time homebuyers.

If Freddie Mac's credit-risk transfer activities continue to grow, mortgage lenders could eventually see a reduction in the guarantee fees they pay to the government-sponsored enterprise, according to CEO Donald Layton.

Freddie Mac and Arch Capital are testing a new form of risk-sharing deal to boost investor appetite for low down payment mortgages. But the pilot is raising concerns about "charter creep" because it dictates private mortgage insurance decisions typically made by lenders.

Blue Lion Capital, which is upset with the Seattle company's growth strategy, also wants to replace two of the company's directors.

Freddie Mac posted a fourth-quarter net loss of $3.3 billion and will request $312 million from the Treasury after recent tax reform legislation forced it to write down the value of deferred tax assets.

Servicers that handle loans in the government's Making Home Affordable program could face more enforcement at the urging of the Special Investigator General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program.

Compliance is a significant cost center for mortgage lenders. But with bulk rates, technology and better process management, some lenders have found new ways to reduce the burden.

Financial firms have mostly shrugged off the government's budget woes, but Washington's gridlock might pose a bigger risk than they think.

Updated Fannie Mae requirements clarify that lenders need to conduct an independent internal audit, something that might require additional investment by nonbanks to set up.

Situs agreed Friday to buy mortgage servicing rights valuation and brokerage firm MountainView Financial Solutions in a deal set to close this month.

A group of reinsurers has committed to provide up to $650 million of coverage for credit risk on some $21 billion of 30-year, fixed-rate loans that the government-sponsored agency will acquire over the next two years.

Fannie Mae's serious delinquency rate climbed to a high not seen since March 2017, but remained lower than it was 12 months prior.

From consolidation to tech innovation, here's a look at some of the top challenges and trends that mortgage executives from lenders, servicers and vendors are focused on for 2018.

Underwriting purchase loans is inherently more precarious for mortgage lenders and that contributed to the year-over-year increase in risk in new originations during the third quarter, CoreLogic said.

Cutting payments helps stave off default, but principal reduction on underwater loans and lower consumer debt levels are less effective, according to JPMorgan Chase Institute's new study of post-crisis modifications.

Closing mortgages more quickly could introduce efficiencies but it also could introduce fraud risks if done without strong identity verification procedures in place, LexisNexis Risk Solutions finds.

The J.G. Wentworth Co.'s financial results improved in the third quarter, due in part to an increase in mortgage originations, but it continued to operate at a loss.