#Thompson – Federal Financial Analytics

1 09, 2022

FedFin on: Centenarians Get a Face Lift

Arezou Rafikian2022-12-20T16:22:39-05:00September 1st, 2022|The Vault|

As seems always the case, FHFA Director Thompson is as good as her word to Congress earlier this summer, announcing yesterday a review of the extent to which the Home Loan Banks and their System meet the mission assigned to them and, regardless, if that mission still makes sense. Building on our initial assessment of FHFA’s plans, we here turn to what the System, its allies, and reformers are likely to say and what FHFA and/or Congress will then do about it.

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9 06, 2022

FedFin on: Equitable Endeavors

Arezou Rafikian2023-01-27T15:57:10-05:00June 9th, 2022|The Vault|

When Sandra Thompson earlier this year enunciated a new equitable-finance mission, we forecast that Fannie and Freddie would undertake an array of new activities that significantly expand their footprint along with their equity and equality impact. As anticipated, the plans announced yesterday by Fannie and Freddie go beyond FHFA’s reiterated mission statement earlier this week, mirroring in some ways the banking agencies’ broad view of CRA as a community-development and racial-equity instrument as well as the boost to LMI housing on which attention long focused. But, for all the public-good creds these plans engender, several will doubtless promote market angst as the GSEs launch pilots that tread heavily on MI, title-insurer, and servicer toes.

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9 02, 2022

FedFin: Plan B

Arezou Rafikian2023-04-05T10:02:28-04:00February 9th, 2022|The Vault|

Continuing her very different vision of Fannie and Freddie, FHFA Acting Director Thompson today has released a new strategic plan for the agency emphasizing the importance of both equitable and sustainable housing finance.

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14 01, 2022

FedFin: If At First You Don’t Succeed….

Arezou Rafikian2023-04-24T15:26:17-04:00January 14th, 2022|The Vault|

As noted in our in-depth analysis of Acting FHFA Director Thompson’s confirmation hearing, it’s clear that Democrats and Republicans are thinking hard about resurrecting statutory changes to the GSEs’ charters. They are, though, about as far apart as usual on the constructs they prefer, ….

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13 01, 2022

FedFin on: Brainard Navigates Troubled Waters; Looks Like Smooth Sailing for Thompson

Arezou Rafikian2023-04-24T15:40:10-04:00January 13th, 2022|The Vault|

At today’s confirmation hearing, Gov. Brainard took a lot of the heat on inflation Republicans only mildly mentioned during Mr. Powell’s Tuesday confirmation hearing (see Client Report FEDERALRESERVE67). As we anticipated (see Client Report FEDERALRESERVE66) this reflects the fact that the GOP is united in opposition to her appointment as Fed vice chair; should she hold Sen. Manchin (D-WV) she will be confirmed; if not, perhaps not. Ranking Member Toomey (R-PA) also used the occasion to signal – again unsurprisingly – GOP opposition should Sarah Bloom Raskin be nominated….

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2 12, 2021

FedFin: Going Down?

Arezou Rafikian2023-05-23T13:59:59-04:00December 2nd, 2021|The Vault|

Two recent studies add fuel to the fire we first spotted late last year: demands for ARMs that only go down. Director Thompson’s latest scorecard combines with her equitable-finance mission to make this option a top political priority even if its market feasibility remains at best uncertain.

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30 11, 2021

FedFin: Setting the Limit

Arezou Rafikian2023-05-23T14:44:45-04:00November 30th, 2021|The Vault|

Unsurprisingly, FHFA today raised the GSEs’ conforming loan limit to about $647,000 and the high-cost limit to nearly $1 million. More surprisingly, FHFA Director Thompson accompanied this politically-sensitive announcement with a statement that her agency is “actively evaluating the limit and its relationship to affordable housing across the U.S.”

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15 09, 2021

FedFin on: GSEs Get a New, If Familiar, Gig

Arezou Rafikian2023-08-03T14:58:42-04:00September 15th, 2021|The Vault|

As noted yesterday, Treasury and the FHFA pulled the Trump PSPA’s plug, although importantly and widely overlooked is that this is true only when it comes to near-term asset-purchase considerations. Still, with this action atop all the others redefining Fannie and Freddie since Sandra Thompson took over, the GSEs are being reconfigured into agents of Administration policy in concert with being still more critical agencies for housing finance.

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