Mortgages

With tougher capital requirements looming, a number of regionals including U.S. Bancorp, Huntington and Santander are using these new instruments to share risk with nonbank investors and lighten their capital load. Experts point out the pros and cons.

Even with the 9 basis point rise this week, they have remained at the same level since mid-December, and that should bring people into the market, Freddie Mac said.

Its January forecast reverses the call first made in April 2022 that the U.S. economy would slip into an extended downturn.

A common concern in housing finance reactions has been the lack of accommodation for strategies routinely used to manage credit, rate and liquidity exposures.

"Someone somewhere has not taken a victory lap for the work that has been done to rehabilitate the enterprises." Priscilla Almodovar said in a Bloomberg interview.

The move is somewhat counterintuitive relative to other market signals but Fannie Mae generally forecasts a net positive shift in lending conditions this year.

As part of a settlement with the Justice Department, Patriot Bank must invest more than $1 million of the total in a loan subsidy fund for minority homeowners and take other corrective steps in its everyday business. The bank denied any wrongdoing.

The former Obama administration official and MBA head died unexpectedly on Jan. 16.

The Seattle bank's stock price fell in 2023 amid concerns over rising interest rates and its concentration of multifamily loans. The buyer is FirstSun Capital Bancorp, which raised $175 million as part of the deal.

New federal standards for responsible lending should trigger a surge of new capital into underserved communities, as concerns about reputational risk are allayed.

Navy Federal, the nation's largest credit union, is facing a lawsuit about its allegedly discriminatory mortgage lending practices.

For the past week, the benchmark 10-year Treasury closed above 4%, as the markets priced in an increase in the consumer price index.

The country's largest credit union is learning the hard way that failure to assure inclusivity in lending practices is a recipe for both financial and reputational damage.

Mike Weinbach, a former Wells Fargo and JPMorgan leader, will replace president Chris Marshall who's expected to retire at the end of this year.

The top five banks and thrifts have nearly $96 billion in combined home equity loan portfolios as of September 30, 2023.

Southern Bancorp in Little Rock, Arkansas, plans to put $250 million in equity capital it received from the Treasury Department to good use making mortgages and acquiring banks.

But this week the 30-year fixed rate mortgage average increased for the first time in two months.

The real estate investment trust — which counts the private equity firm C-III Capital Partners among its top shareholders — owes more than $100 million to creditors but has less than $50 million of assets, according to a Chapter 11 petition.

Rates that have been below 7% for two consecutive weeks have given originators a gift at what's typically a slow time of year, Freddie Mac said.

The banks' resistance to changes being recommended by the Federal Housing Finance Agency do not bode well for their future or that of the industry.