Originations

Royal Bank of Canada executives said they plan to start originating more mortgages in the United States, and they indicated that they may ditch the City National Bank brand.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent expects the U.S. housing market to quickly pick up steam after recent indicators came in below forecasts.

While Freddie Mac's weekly survey showed 30-year rates falling, other indicators paint a mixed picture for mortgage lenders and borrowers.

The 30-year fixed rate mortgage continues to slip away from the 7% mark, Freddie Mac said, but experts still expect them to stay higher for longer.

Fees falling outside of tolerances cost the industry more than $1 million per 1,000 loans, according to an ICE Mortgage Technology study from earlier this year.

Commoditization of mortgages, plus technology that eases the refinance process, and the regulatory environment, all contributed to the decision.

Ally Financial Inc. will cut jobs, end mortgage originations and consider strategic alternatives for its credit-card business as borrowers have struggled to pay down costly debt.

The Freddie Mac mortgage rate tracker on Thursday morning showed the conforming 30-year fixed rate mortgage creep closer to the 7% level last seen in May.

The watchdog accuses Rocket Homes and The Mitchell Group brokerage of initiating a plan to generate origination business for Rocket Mortgage.

The bank ends the year with a substantially different profile from early 2024, which brought new leadership, a significant reduction to its mortgage operations and a corporate rebrand.

The Federal Reserve released additional information about its periodic review of its monetary policy strategy, tools and communications framework; TD Bank Group announced Michelle Myers will succeed Anita O'Dell as global chief auditor; Provident Financial Services will expand its commercial lending team; and more in this week's banking news roundup.

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Rohit Chopra said the FICO credit-scoring model has drawbacks in price, predictiveness and market competition, and stakeholders should develop a more open-sourced model that uses artificial intelligence.

U.S. military veterans and active duty personnel have four mortgage industry participants looking to enhance their ability to take advantage of their benefits.

The Chicago-area lender, which at first was able to get the suit quashed, agreed to end the discrimination case by paying a $105,000 fine.

Drey Roberts and his team move to de novo warehouse lender Primis Bank as former home Independent Bank makes a strategic exit.

The lawmaker said leadership on the House Financial Services Committee is supportive of the legislation, which would limit the ability of credit-reporting agencies to sell homebuyer information to financial service providers.

Freddie Mac also indicated that it will be proceeding with its closely watched second-lien pilot, while Fannie reported gains in serving credit invisible borrowers.

Positive feedback from participants in existing programs led to the decision to expand them in order to assist more lenders.

While the recent upward movement has dampened borrowing activity, housing researchers reported encouraging signs for business this fall.

After NYCB streamlined its branch operations under the Flagstar name, the publicly traded company will begin trading under a new stock ticker symbol in late October.