The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) issued a proposed rule to repeal its Fair Lending, Fair Housing and Equitable Housing Finance Plan requirements — regulations it finalized barely a year ago — and is inviting the public to comment on this proposal until Sept. 26. It is one of the agency’s swiftest reversals of a […]
FHFA’s fair lending reversal risks housing market stability Read More »
Fannie Mae made downward revisions to mortgage rate forecasts in its latest monthly economic update with projections for higher volumes than previously anticipated next year. The government-sponsored enterprise revised the average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage projection for fourth-quarter 2025 to 6.4% from 6.5%, and the one for the same loan type a year further out to
Where Fannie Mae anticipates rates will head next Read More »
Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg Key insight: Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said the recent uptick in the unemployment rate and slowing job gains were factors that led the central bank’s rate-setting committee to cut short-term interest rates by 25 basis points. Expert quote: “Our policy is not on a preset course. We will continue to determine the
Fed’s Powell mum on future interest rate cuts Read More »
Adobe Stock: Tada Images FICO, the eponymous credit score provider, announced three artificial intelligence language models for financial services firms on Tuesday: Focused Foundation Model, Focused Language Model and Focused Sequence Model. In developing its own language models, FICO is offering an alternative to the large foundation models that have become popular in the industry,
Seeking better results, FICO launches bank-specific AI models Read More »
Freddie Mac announced the appointment of a new general counsel, whose hiring comes amid ongoing speculation about the future of the government-sponsored enterprises. The GSE this week named Matthew D. Abrusci executive vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary. With a career across banking, capital markets and securities law, Abrusci joins Freddie Mac after recently
Freddie Mac appoints financial attorney as general counsel Read More »
Al Drago/Bloomberg Key insight: Fed Vice Chair for Supervision Michelle Bowman signaled that she is onboard for notable short term interest rate cuts if the labor market picture continues to worsen. Expert quote: “The recent data, including the estimated payroll employment benchmark revisions show that we are at serious risk of already being behind the
Fed’s Bowman: ‘Serious risk’ of labor market deterioration Read More »
Mergers and acquisitions and private markets will rebound when the next Federal Reserve chair is appointed, according to Marathon Asset Management LP Chairman Bruce Richards. Bringing down financing costs will boost transaction activity, increasing distributions to investors in private equity and making it easier for companies to repay their debts, he said in an interview
Marathon’s Richards sees coming bonanza for LBOs, private credit Read More »
A rapid plunge in U.S. interest-rate volatility is heaping pain on a popular Wall Street approach for hedging against financial market turmoil. In recent years, major banks have been building and selling protective quantitative investment strategies (QIS) tied to long-term expectations for swings in interest rates. The products — systematic trades packaged up as swaps for the
Rates ‘Volmageddon’ hammers Wall Street tail hedge Read More »
The real estate industry is at an inflection point. Affordability has become the single most pressing issue for consumers, regulators, and professionals alike. For decades, buyers searched by list price, even though every lender knows that what really matters is the monthly payment a family can carry under underwriting standards. Now, search-by-payment is no longer
Affordability-first search: Why patent revival puts real estate at a crossroads Read More »
In our Tech Disruption survey, National Mortgage News asked participants “What technology is in use in your organization?” When it came to “advanced fraud protection tools,” significant shares of banks, credit unions and nonbank mortgage lenders all said they do employ them. However, a 13 percentage point gap exists between banks (86%) and nonbanks (73%);
EXCLUSIVE RESEARCH: Fraud tech gaps emerge between banks and nonbanks Read More »