The American Bankers Association sent a letter to Secretary Treasury Steve Mnuchin late last month detailing a handful of key reforms it believes are needed to the ability-to-repay/qualified mortgage rule promulgated by the CFPB. The trade group’s correspondence was in response to President Trump’s Executive Order 13772 and the circulation of his core principles for regulating the U.S. financial system.For starters, the ABA said all mortgages originated and held in a bank’s own portfolio should be considered QM, and should be afforded safe harbor legal treatment. “This approach is consistent with safe lending principles because holding loans in portfolio means that the bank is retaining 100 percent of the risk on that loan,” said the organization. Banks will offer ...