Tag Archives: Regulation

Conditions in the housing sector may have finally improved enough to bring life back to the securitization market.

A new report from the Office of the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (SIGTARP) suggests the Treasury Department has failed once again to curb what SIGTARP calls "excessive" executive pay at AIG, General Motors, and Ally Financial--three companies bailed out with taxpayer funds. After investigating pay in 2012, SIGTARP reported Treasury approved pay packages worth $5 million or more for 23 percent of the top employees at AIG, GM, and Ally.

A federal appeals court in Washington, D.C., ruled Friday that the controversial recess appointments made by President Obama in January 2012--which includes the appointment of Richard Cordray as director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB)--are "invalid from their inception." Administration officials insisted the president was acting correctly under the Constitution; critics argued that the Senate was not actually in recess and that the president was skirting around the confirmation process.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's (CFPB) new rules on loan originator compensation will inevitably raise prices for consumers and harm small business, according to the National Association of Mortgage Brokers (NAMB). NAMB president Donald J. Frommeyer noted that the majority of the 10,579 mortgage brokers in the United States have five employees at most, and a large portion of the commission they receive on loans goes to paying overhead to operate their business.

The last few weeks have seen a deluge of new rules from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and other regulatory agencies, but a new report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) says the reform process is still coming along slowly. As of the end of 2012, GAO estimates regulators have issued rules for approximately 48 percent of the Dodd-Frank provisions that call for them. Most of the effective deadlines for those rules have not yet been reached, the agency says.

A report from Kroll Factual Data, Inc., shows the risk of mortgage fraud rose 1.1 percent throughout the country between the second and third quarters of 2012.

Now that the industry has its long-awaited QM definition, Fitch Ratings believes jumbo prime securities are poised to see a jump start.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau announced more new rules designed to shape up origination practices and compensation.

Starting in January 2014, mortgage lenders will work under new rules governing the handling of appraisals and other home value estimates. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced Friday the adoption of a new rule intended to improve consumer access to appraisal reports. In addition, the CFPB (in partnership with five other federal regulatory agencies) issued a rule establishing specific appraisal requirements for higher-priced mortgage loans and properties flipped within six months of purchase.

A week after releasing its "qualified mortgage" guidelines, the CFPB is issuing more rules designed to clean up servicing practices.