Secondary markets

Fannie Mae completed 10 traditional and front-end credit risk insurance transactions during 2018, sharing $2.6 billion of risk, including $192 million in its final deal of the year.

Ginnie Mae officials are concerned about unusual activity with Department of Veterans Affairs cash-out refinances and are investigating the causes, as well as whether predatory lenders are taking advantage of veterans.

If falling volume and rising costs weren't bad enough for nonbank mortgage lenders, an extended run of tight gain-on-sale margins is further eating into their profits.

Returns on mortgage-backed securities in October lagged Treasuries by 37 basis points, the most since November 2016.

The unique approach Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are each taking with their credit-risk transfer products is quickly becoming a key point of differentiation that's rekindling competition between the government-sponsored enterprises.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac transferred a substantial amount of credit risk to the private sector through both single-family and multifamily market transactions in the first half of the year, with activity expected to rise in 2019, according to the Federal Housing Finance Agency.

QRL Financial Services, the mortgage outsourcing division of First Federal Bank of Florida, is the latest investor to seek out better secondary market execution by purchasing electronic notes from correspondents.

Despite an overall weak mortgage originations market, Flagstar Bancorp's third-quarter earnings grew 20%, due in large part to its ongoing efforts to diversify operations.

Rising mortgage interest rates not only will continue to constrain banks' once-robust revenue from this business, they will also affect existing borrower credit quality, a report from Moody's said.

The departing CEOs of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac oversaw significant cultural and operational shifts that made the housing finance system safer and more responsive to market needs, but a tough job lies ahead for their successors.

Industry downsizing resulted in an increase in critical defects found in closed mortgages as loan packaging errors continued to rise during the first quarter, according to Aces Risk Management.

Wells Fargo Home Lending is tapping eOriginal to launch an electronic note program, marking a step forward for the mortgage industry's push toward a more digital process.

Mortgage-related earnings at five banks were lower due to the effect of higher interest rates on loan volume this year, even though late-season homebuyers improved consecutive-quarter origination numbers at three companies.

Home price index swaps, treated as a second lien on a property, will be used to reduce the default risk associated with low down payment mortgages, one of the program's creators said.

Intercontinental Exchange, the owner of the New York Stock Exchange, has purchased the remaining equity in Merscorp Holdings it did not already own.

Residential mortgage loan exchange provider Maxex has closed a new $38 million funding round it will use to improve and expand various aspects of its platform.

Early adopters took digital mortgages from concept to reality. What will it take for everyone else to catch up?

From origination to servicing and everything in between, here's a sneak peek at the companies and products presenting demos at the 2018 Digital Mortgage Conference.

Due diligence firm American Mortgage Consultants has launched a new subsidiary in response to growing lender and servicer interest in digital transactions.

Computershare Loan Services has agreed to acquire a loan fulfillment and secondary marketing unit owned by LenderLive Holdings in order to broaden its services along the full mortgage lifecycle.