Risk

Strong home sales are boosting originations of Federal Housing Administration loans and opening the door for first-time buyers — developments that could portend the mortgage insurance agency receiving a positive report from auditors this fall.

Artificial intelligence like IBM's Watson may not make bank compliance officers obsolete, but it could mean far fewer of them will be needed in the future, focused on higher-level tasks.

IBM will purchase Promontory Financial Group — a consultancy so influential it has been dubbed the industry's "shadow regulator" — in a move that could extend artificial intelligence into every aspect of banking.

Eight years after high-risk, deceptive lending practices precipitated a near-meltdown of the global economy, we learned that at least 5,300 Wells Fargo employees created 2 million sham accounts that its customers apparently did not want, need or understand.

Now that Fannie Mae requires trended data credit reports for its automated underwriting system, will other secondary market players follow suit? If so, how soon?

Freddie Mac plans to say it will start a pilot program to increase the amount of risk it shares with private mortgage insurers.

Banks are dumping their mortgage servicing rights because low rates and new rules make it hard to earn a profit. SunTrust, Flagstar and First South Bancorp in North Carolina are taking the opposite view.

Mortgage fraud rose nationwide as Florida continued its reign as the state with the highest overall risk for unscrupulous activity, according to CoreLogic.

Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen pushed back against the notion that banks might be "too big to manage," saying that despite concerns raised by the recent scandal at Wells Fargo, there is no inherent reason why large banks cannot meet existing standards of conduct.

Fannie Mae has completed two Credit Insurance Risk Transfer transactions worth $14.4 billion, in a continuation of its efforts to reduce taxpayer risk through an increased role for private capital in the mortgage market.

Regions Financial Corp. has agreed to pay $52.4 million to settle allegations that it violated the False Claims Act by originating and underwriting mortgages that did not meet Federal Housing Administration requirements.

It's no secret that subprime lending played a heavy role in the demise of the mortgage broker. But to truly understand how brokers rose to prominence, it is helpful to look back to the channel's beginnings. Here's a look at three data points that sum up the rise and fall of the mortgage broker.

Over the next 40 years, the rate of homeownership is likely to continue to decline further as changes in demographic trends, increased regulation and stagnant incomes make that dream harder to achieve.

Here's a look at some of the mortgage industry's most pioneering ideas and trends that have created legacies that have outlasted the companies that established them.

Loan defects and misrepresentation are occurring at the lowest levels in recent history thanks to the refinance boom spurred by low interest rates and better loan manufacturing processes.

In just a few years, a popular mall with high-end anchor stores and boutique retail tenants can fall into substandard property condition, leaving commercial mortgage bond investors with outsized losses on their exposure to these properties.

Many lenders are still reluctant to give mortgages to borrowers with less-than-pristine credit, yet such loans are far more likely than prime jumbo loans to be bundled into collateral bonds. Sreeni Prabhu of Angel Oak Capital credits banks' behavior and higher interest rates for that reality.

Equifax and TransUnion have stopped selling traditional credit reports, forcing lenders to buy their new, more expensive "trended" data reports that mortgage investors aren't using yet.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency is seeking to make it easier for Federal Home Loan Banks to accept certain kinds of collateral for advances.

The Federal Housing Administration should look to private mortgage insurance companies as a model for how to standardize the claim review process.