WASHINGTON, D.C. (June 20, 2017) –- (RealEstateRama) — David H. Stevens, CMB, President & CEO of the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA), released a statement following the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s (FHFA) annual report to Congress.
“We strongly support a number of the recommendations made in this report, including the need for comprehensive housing finance reform as well as measures to reduce barriers to investor participation in credit risk transfers. Both of these recommendations would facilitate liquidity in the secondary markets, which ultimately benefits borrowers, lenders, and investors.
“However, MBA vigorously objects to FHFA’s request that Congress grant it examination authority over nonbank servicers. In its role as conservator, FHFA already has the ability to set GSE counterparty requirements on servicers and the CFPB’s comprehensive mortgage servicing rules apply to all mortgage servicers. By statutory design, this is also an area of significant state authority and examination activity. Granting FHFA this additional authority absent preemption of duplicative state requirements would result in an even more burdensome regulatory regime in a space that has already seen spiraling costs due to regulatory duplication.
“Also, FHFA’s mention of the Financial Stability Oversight Council’s (FSOC) concern regarding the security of third party service providers is, in our view, irrelevant because the FSOC’s recommendation was made specifically in the context of cybersecurity concerns, and does not reference mortgage servicers or any risks that are inherent to the business of servicing loans.
“MBA remains committed to working with FHFA and Congress on all of these matters to foster strong, vibrant, and resilient mortgage markets.”
CONTACT
Rob Van Raaphorst
(202) 557- 2799
