GSE reform

FHFA Director Mel Watt said Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac should be reincorporated as private entities and the government must provide an explicit guarantee for catastrophic losses in the secondary mortgage market.

Cryptocurrencies continue to dominate much of the news, with a warning on bitcoin taking the top spot and a story about Ripple's partnership with MoneyGram doing well. Housing finance reform, Wells Fargo and the CFPB also featured.

Readers react to the Federal Housing Finance Agency considering changing its credit scoring policy, slam the possibility of enforcing mandatory penalties for data breaches at credit reporting agencies, weigh the possible nomination of a credit union regulator to the CFPB, and more.

Housing finance reform proposals could make it challenging for community banks and credit unions to serve rural mortgage markets, according to a report issued Wednesday by Brookings and the Center for Responsible Lending.

The Senate Banking Committee is expected soon to release a bipartisan bill that would significantly reshape the housing finance market, but key issues remain unresolved.

Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, D-Mo., has emerged as one of the most outspoken members of Congress when it comes to fintech, both embracing its potential and calling for regulatory guardrails.

The announcement Tuesday by Sen. Orrin Hatch that he will retire at the end of the year could have a ripple effect throughout the Senate, including the leadership of the Banking Committee.

Over the past year, the focus of several banking policymakers has been how much the regulatory pendulum might swing back toward the industry’s liking. That theme will likely continue in 2018.

A regulatory relief package is likely to come out of the Senate in the new year, and lawmakers could follow it up with a housing finance reform push. But the midterm elections could cause some reform initiatives to grind to a halt.

The GSEs are on their way to paying back the money they owed the government under the original bailout deal made at the height of the financial crisis, making 2018 an opportune time for an overhaul of the housing finance market.