The Federal Housing Finance Agency would see the 12 Federal Home Loan Banks come up with their own internal credit rating system under a proposed rule issued by the FHFA two weeks ago. Published in the May 23 Federal Register, the Finance Agency proposal would remove a number of credit rating references and requirements in certain safety and soundness regulations affecting the FHLBanks. FHFA regulations require the FHLBanks to assess the credit-worthiness of a security or money market instrument that either the Bank is considering investing in or the Bank is helping another financial institution invest in.

The draft includes numerous provisions designed to ensure access to the revamped secondary market for credit unions and community banks with less than $10 billion in assets.

In its 10-Q filing for the first quarter, Fannie Mae reported $3.74 billion of “gross unrealized gains” on a host of different securities in its “available for sale” account.

The bipartisan Senate legislation being drafted to finally resolve the conservatorships of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac attempts to meet the needs of a lot of interests in the mortgage finance industry, including small lenders, Wall Street, the multifamily business and even, potentially, current owners of common stock issued by the two government-sponsored enterprises. A discussion draft of the bill, the Secondary Mortgage Market Reform and Taxpayer Protection Act of 2013, outlines a broad plan for shutting down Fannie and Freddie and replacing them with a new entity – the Federal Mortgage Insurance Corp. – that is intended as a transition to a fully private mortgage market. A copy of the draft legislation, which is primarily the work of Sens. Bob Corker, R-TN, and Mark Warner, D-VA, was provided to Inside Mortgage Finance. The draft bill includes...

Banks large and small are increasing their originations of non-agency jumbo mortgages, according to an analysis by Inside Mortgage Finance. Demand for the mortgages in the secondary market has increased significantly recently, giving banks another option besides holding the loans in portfolio. An estimated $54.0 billion in non-agency jumbos were originated in the first quarter of 2013, up 14.9 percent from the first quarter of 2012. Fourteen of the top 20 non-agency jumbo lenders increased their originations during that period, including Bank of America and Chase, which each increased their jumbo originations by about 66 percent. Agency jumbo production – Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and FHA business over the traditional $417,000 conforming loan limit – was...[Includes three data charts]

A few weeks back, Flagstar Bank sold roughly $12 billion in mortgage servicing rights in a private transaction for an undisclosed sum. To date, the sale has not been disclosed but that isn’t stopping players in the MSR market from talking about the transaction as well as rumors that Flagstar, at one time, was contemplating selling upwards of $70 billion of MSR. A source close to the deal said that Flagstar was definitely contemplating a large MSR transaction late last year “but tabled it.” A spokeswoman for the bank declined to comment. If Flagstar had unloaded...

The FHA, in a new crackdown on lenders with underwriting and delinquency problems, has sent “notification” letters to at least a dozen firms, Inside Mortgage Finance has learned. Advisors note that as many as 15 mortgage companies may have received warnings from the agency. According to the Collingwood Group, a Washington-based advisory firm, lenders were told they could soon lose their status as direct endorsement lenders, which means they have to get FHA insurance approvals through the Department of Housing and Urban Development. “If you can’t engage...

Small lenders should be afforded “equal access” to the secondary market and the same execution opportunities as their larger contemporaries, and they would under a reform plan proposed by the Mortgage Bankers Association. A “concept paper” released by the MBA this week recommends immediate steps the Federal Housing Finance Agency can take by way of secondary market reform of the government-sponsored enterprises Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac on behalf of lenders of all sizes, including inducing comparable guaranty fees and eliminating underwriting concessions for large lenders. The MBA called...

Will the nation's megabanks begin shedding mortgage workers if loan applications don't rise soon?

As of Wednesday morning, a GSE shareholder petition accessible through the White House website had 874 of the 100,000 signatures required by July 1.