Risk

Wells Fargo has named Senior Vice President Jeff Smith to succeed Perry Hilzendeger as head of home loan servicing following Hilzendeger's earlier appointment to head of retail home lending.

The fees that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac charge for low down payment mortgages disproportionately reflect their risk exposure and make homeownership more difficult for underserved borrowers.

The high cost of preparing for both CFPB and state exams has a disproportionate impact on small independent mortgage banks that don't have the compliance economies of scale of larger lenders.

With better-than-expected performance of the underlying mortgages, Fitch Ratings cut its loss projections for seasoned government-sponsored enterprise credit risk transfer deals.

Credit reporting firms with significant operations in New York will face new cybersecurity and registration requirements to stave off concerns related to a breach of Equifax's systems last year.

Freddie Mac hit the $1 trillion mark on credit risk sharing for single-family mortgage loans with its second lower LTV deal of the year.

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.

The ability-to-repay standard is responsible for the reduction in loan application defects over the past four-plus years, according to First American Financial.

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.

There is now less fraud risk associated with adjustable-rate mortgage applications and this will offset some of the higher hazard associated with a purchase market.

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.

It is important for lenders to understand in what locations and property types their application fraud risk rests as the market share of purchase loans rises.

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.