#HUD – Page 2 – Federal Financial Analytics

14 04, 2022

DAILY041422

Eliza Allen2023-03-02T11:15:36-05:00April 14th, 2022|2- Daily Briefing|

Admin Issues Low-Impact Equity Plans

We have reviewed the Treasury and HUD reports filed in compliance with President Biden’s executive order on racial equity.

CEA Urges Tough Merger Policy, New Government Green Investments

Today’s Economic Report of the President from the Council of Economic Advisers emphasizes the Administration’s positive view of the economy and its own macroeconomic and equity accomplishments.

GSE Strategic Plans Demands Equity, Sustainability

FHFA today released the final version of its forward-looking strategic plan for Fannie, Freddie, and the FHLBs. As we noted when the proposal was released in February, the plan redirects all of the GSEs to focus not only on safety-and-soundness and more traditional mission criteria, but also on equity and sustainability.

EXIM Enters Domestic C&I Finance

The U.S. Export-Import Bank today announced a fundamental shift in its decades-long function, going beyond export finance now to fund or guarantee domestic manufacturing companies even if they are only “export-focused” and do not use EXIM funds for export-related activity.

DOJ Equity Report Quiet on Mergers and Fair-Lending

Our review of the Department of Justice’s report implementing President Biden’s equity order indicates no discussion of bank-merger policy (see FSM Report MERGER10) or fair-lending enforcement, despite the high-priority focus given to these issues and the link drawn from them to equity outcomes in Mr. Biden’s competition order (see Client Report MERGER6).

FinCEN Targets Kleptocrats, Corrupt Public Officials

FinCEN today implemented provisions in the President’s anti-corruption order, issuing an advisory laying out how financial …

17 03, 2022

DAILY031722

Eliza Allen2023-04-03T14:33:52-04:00March 17th, 2022|2- Daily Briefing|

Fed, FHFA Leadership Advance

As anticipated last night, the Senate Banking Committee yesterday advanced all the Fed nominations and that of Sandra Thompson as FHFA director. However, Lisa Cook’s nomination was tied on a strictly partisan basis, meaning that it was not approved by Senate Banking but is nonetheless discharged to Senate Majority Leader Schumer (D-NY).

HFSC Hikes Array of Anti-Russia Sanctions

In the first of a series of markups, HFSC today approved 5 bills ramping up sanctions against Russia and Belarus. The most controversial of them, H.R. 7080 (Waters, D-CA), would broaden FinCEN’s ability to obtain information about the transactions of Russian oligarchs in the US.

Chopra Uses Rate Hike to Press Competition Inquiries

Describing the CFPB as “the arm of the Federal Reserve System that is fully focused on consumers,” Director Chopra today issued a statement following yesterday’s rate hike.

Senate Democrats Take Turns Whacking Wells Fargo

Senior Democrats today took sharp issue with Wells Fargo’s refi lending, asserting it was discriminatory and seeking an array of data from the bank and action by federal agencies. Senate Banking Chairman Brown (D-OH), Majority Whip Durbin (D-IL), and other senators called on HUD and the CFPB to investigate findings in a recent Bloomberg story, confining their comments to a general attack on discrimination without setting a date for a reply or any specific matters the agencies are to review.

Daily031722.pdf…

15 03, 2022

GSE-031522

Arezou Rafikian2023-04-03T15:01:36-04:00March 15th, 2022|4- GSE Activity Report|

A Sort-Of CBDC and the Future of Federal Housing Finance

Although we have done extensive analysis of a U.S. central-bank digital currency (CBDC) in our sister analytical service, we have not viewed as it as an imminent strategic consideration for housing-finance agencies and financial institutions. However, a widely noted new paper on an alternative – Treasury accounts highlights a CBDC-like construct that could be implemented far more quickly than a Fed-based CBDC with significant residential-finance impact. As a result, we here assess this concept and its consequences.

GSE-031522.pdf…

22 02, 2022

Daily022222

Arezou Rafikian2023-04-04T15:32:15-04:00February 22nd, 2022|2- Daily Briefing|

CFPB Reiterates Need for Small-Business ECOA Reporting

The CFPB has reiterated its plans to quickly enact new rules requiring small-business lender reporting (see FSM Report FAIRLEND7), asserting that demographic and pricing data are necessary to ensure fair credit to otherwise under-served small businesses. T

G20 Ministerial Frets re Central Banks, CBDC, Climate, NBFIs

Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the G20 finance ministerial communiqué is the new assertion that crafting effective exit strategies is not only critical to sustained and stable macroeconomic growth, but also to central-bank “credibility.” We have been tracking growing concerns about central-bank credibility, and its relation to central-bank independence in connection with work related to Karen Petrou’s book.

FSB Looks for New Distressed-Debt Options Ahead of Lots More Debt

The FSB has issued a new discussion paper seeking ways to exit widespread forbearance and central-bank programs during the pandemic that have increased the likelihood that highly-indebted corporate borrowers will experience severe distress as interest rates rise. Although these concerns are particularly acute in the EU, where “zombie” borrowers have been a major market presence since 2008, they are also a growing concern in the U.S. and elsewhere due to the sharp run-up in highly leveraged corporate finance along with the sharp growth in private-capital structures.

Agencies Give All-Clear for Special Credit

The banking agencies, CFPB, FHFA, NCUA, and the Departments of Justice and HUD today issued a statement on special-purpose credit programs.

Daily022222.pdf…

1 02, 2022

GSE-020122

Eliza Allen2023-04-05T14:20:22-04:00February 1st, 2022|4- GSE Activity Report|

CFPB Goes for the Jugular

Nothing could do as much damage to a business based on fee revenue as a determined CFPB inquiry into fee revenue. Last Thursday, the Bureau’s new director, Rohit Chopra, launched just such an inquiry. Here, we assess its important to mortgage origination and servicing along with what’s next.

GSE-020122.pdf…

24 01, 2022

GSE-012422

Arezou Rafikian2023-04-21T14:29:12-04:00January 24th, 2022|4- GSE Activity Report|

The Processing Problem

A new Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta study adds another element to those prior research argues are evidence of widespread racial discrimination in U.S. mortgage finance. It adds processing speed to the list of discriminatory practices that now is said to include denial disparities, pricing, and refi rates. The paper’s findings cast particular aspersions on loans originated for the GSEs, but it does so at a time when PLS distorted the market in terms of both underwriting and processing speed. Its conclusions that GSE practices exacerbated discrimination and that processing times added to the problem are not, in our view, clearly validated by the data, which suggest to us that processing speed is an artifact of other market factors (e.g., discriminatory steering by some lenders, GSE AU and put-back power).

GSE-012422.pdf…

24 01, 2022

FedFin: The Processing Problem

Arezou Rafikian2023-04-21T14:29:25-04:00January 24th, 2022|The Vault|

A new Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta study adds another element to those prior research argues are evidence of widespread racial discrimination in U.S. mortgage finance.

The full report is available to subscription clients. To find out how you can sign up for the service, click here.…

19 01, 2022

Daily011922

Arezou Rafikian2023-04-24T13:33:40-04:00January 19th, 2022|2- Daily Briefing|

GOP Signals Congressional CBDC Strategy
Although the bill will not pass in this Congress, we draw client attention to H.R. 6415, legislation just now noted in the Congressional Record to bar the FRB from offering the “FedAccounts” Democrats espouse (see FSM Report CBDC).

OCC Grants Non-Traditional Charter Conditions on BHC Status
After close of business yesterday, the OCC gave conditional approval to SoFi’s acquisition of an insured depository and thus to its charter now as a full-service national bank. The approval signals not only that the OCC will approve acquisitions and continue to charter national banks even in non-traditional cases, but also that the moratorium on crypto charters remains in full force.

Senate Banking Split on Several Key Nominations
The Senate Banking Committee today voted on several key Biden Administration nominees without taking up any of the pending Fed appointments. The narrowness of several votes makes it clear that, as we anticipated (see Client Report FEDERALRESERVE66), controversial appointments such as Sarah Bloom Raskin and Lael Brainard have uncertain futures.

Large Banks Lead on D&I, CFPB Study Finds
The CFPB today released a report analyzing publicly-available FY2020 diversity and inclusion data for depository and nondepository institutions, putting forward a series of best practice recommendations.

Daily011922.pdf…

9 12, 2021

FedFin: Super-Special

Arezou Rafikian2023-05-23T12:54:23-04:00December 9th, 2021|The Vault|

On Tuesday, HUD and the CFPB opened the door to special-purpose mortgage finance. Now, we expect FHFA to use this safe harbor to mandate express GSE equitable-finance programs and for banks to take much of what’s left in all their commitments after George Floyd’s murder and turn it into mortgage and other community-finance products.

The full report is available to subscription clients. To find out how you can sign up for the service, click here.…

9 12, 2021

FedFin: Super-Special

Arezou Rafikian2023-05-23T12:54:16-04:00December 9th, 2021|The Vault|

On Tuesday, HUD and the CFPB opened the door to special-purpose mortgage finance. Now, we expect FHFA to use this safe harbor to mandate express GSE equitable-finance programs and for banks to take much of what’s left in all their commitments after George Floyd’s murder and turn it into mortgage and other community-finance products.

The full report is available to subscription clients. To find out how you can sign up for the service, click here.…