Tag Archives: Federal Reserve

Recent news reports show homebuyers flocking to high-end properties to close rates for jumbo loan mortgages, even as Congress wavers on a proposed bill that would cement higher thresholds for federally insured mortgages.

Following months of anticipation among critics and admirers alike, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau formally opened its doors Thursday, taking over rule-writing and enforcement abilities for 18 consumer financial laws, preparing a host of new regulators, and assuming an array of powers provided by the Dodd-Frank Act. The launch notwithstanding, a tied-up confirmation process, scale-up difficulties, and stiff political opposition from the past year hold the CFPB back, making some wonder how the bureau will function.

In a statement released Monday, NDeX announced the appointment of its president and chief financial officer, Scott Goldstein, to the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago Advisory Council. Scott represents a combination of business savvy and economic vision that will prove to be a valuable resource in his role with the Fed, said James P.

With less than two weeks to go before the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau launches, Treasury Department adviser and nominee Elizabeth Warren plans to attend the House Oversight Committee for the last time on Thursday, giving her Republican opponents one final opportunity to lob critiques at her brainchild before it assumes consumer financial protection authority. Analysts across the spectrum seem to agree that Warren will face yet another challenge from Republicans, who fear numerous transfers of authority from seven agencies will tip the scale between regulation and economic recovery.

In testimony before the House financial services committee and two subcommittees, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau associate director and potential nominee Raj Date made it clear that the agency plans to pounce on new rules for mortgage-servicers in July. Date described a transfer of authority to the bureau from seven agencies set to occur in July. According to Bloomberg News, the congressional committee asked Date to testify as it looks over gaps and lapses in the current body of mortgage servicing regulation.

The Federal Reserve released a statement today announcing that Mark Bialek will head up internal investigations as inspector general of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection.

Members of Congress linked arms with a broad coalition of community and professional associations to call for the reversal of a key provision in the Dodd-Frank Act, which critics charge will upend recovery in the housing markets, close the door on new homebuyers, and force borrowers to shoulder higher costs. The lawmakers and industry groups showed up in force at a press conference organized by the Coalition for Sensible Housing Policy, which plans to submit a white paper to authorities as official commentary.

The U.S. Census Bureau and HUD released data indicating southerly drifts for sales of new homes, revealing a 2.1 percent drop beneath the April rate of 326,000, 13.5 percent above the 281,000 estimates from May 2010.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission has issued a six-month delay for the finalization of rules and regulations in sync with the Dodd-Frank Act, temporarily checking a host of new requirements that analysts fear will distress the derivatives, financial, and mortgage banking markets. The Federal Reserve, FDIC, and the Office of the Comptroller of Currency fell behind schedule in the lead-up to Dodd-Frank's implementation phase, which goes into effect on July 16 despite that over half of the required 387 provisions need writing.

More hard times may be in store for brokers in the loan origination sector, which the Federal Reserve's new compensation rules already shrank by causing a wholesale market pullback in April, according to Barclays Capital. A weekly economic forecast by the firm offered a section entitled "Bye, bye broker" that predicts a flight by brokers to high-balance loans over the next several years. The analysts note that the barred yield-spread premiums (YSP) provided brokers with as much as 90 percent of their compensation in the past.