The Lede

Two long-time Mortgage Bankers Association members announced formation of a new trade association, the Mortgage Compliance Professionals Association of America.

The rest of 2016 will likely be as "bumpy" as the first half was for commercial mortgage-backed securities, said Brian Olasov, Executive Director with Carlton Fields, New York.

DSNews, June 30, 2016--Honea, Brian Having fallen below its 2016 cap of $339.3 billion in March, Fannie Mae's gross mortgage portfolio contracted further in both April and May, shrinking at an annual rate of 32.0 percent in May, according to Fannie Mae's May 2016 Monthly Volume Summary.

National Mortgage News, July 1, 2016--Wack, Kevin In the first quarter, 94.9% of the residential mortgages serviced by seven big banks were current and performing, according to a report released Friday by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. That percentage compared to 94.4% in October 2007, when the OCC first reported the data.

Wall Street Journal, July 4, 2016--Ensign, Rachel Louise The jumbo mortgage business keeps getting bigger for banks. These high-dollar home loans rose to 24% of mortgage approvals at six of the largest U.S. banks in 2015 from 21% the year before, according to an analysis of federal home-loan data.

Wall Street Journal, July 1, 2016--Witkowski, Rachel The country's largest banks have dropped almost half of their mortgage servicing since the financial crisis, with some $2.5 trillion in loans largely moving into the shadow banking system, according to a regulatory report.

MReport, July 4, 2016--Honea, BrianHaving already fallen below the cap for 2016 only a third of the way through the year, Freddie Mac's mortgage-related investments portfolio continued to shrink at the annual rate of 27 percent in May.

National Mortgage News, July 1, 2016--Collins, Brian The Federal Housing Finance Agency's first report on the sales of nonperforming loans owned by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac may seem discouraging at first. Mike Fratantoni, the chief economist of the Mortgage Bankers Association, said Fannie and Freddie have achieved a number of positive results from these sales.

HousingWire, June 30, 2016--Lane, Ben Amidst mounting public pressure to do more to keep struggling homeowners in their homes, HUD and the Federal Housing Administration announced a series of extensive changes to its non-performing loan sale program.

San Francisco Chronicle, July 1, 2016--Gutierrez, Melody The bill would amend the California Homeowner Bill of Rights to include heirs of homeowners, requiring lenders to work with them to help save their homes from foreclosure. But Pat Zenzola, a lobbyist for the California Mortgage Bankers Association, said the bill is "ripe with the opportunity for additional litigation and potential for mischief."

HousingWire, June 30, 2016--Lane, Ben Minnesota announced earlier this week that it is fining American Modern Insurance Group $1 million for overcharging Minnesota residents for force-placed insurance. 

HousingWire, June 28, 2016--Lane, Ben The U.S. Supreme Court announced Tuesday that it will hear arguments during its next term on whether the city of Miami can sue Bank of America and Wells Fargo for alleged predatory lending.

HousingWire, June 30, 2016--Ramirez, Kelsey The first nonperforming loan report from the Federal Housing Finance Agency, released today, shows Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac "resolved" just 24% of its total inventory of non-performing loans.

HousingWire, June 29, 2016--Ramirez, Kelsey Ohio passed legislation yesterday that seeks to prevent zombie homes, or vacant or abandoned residential property, by enacting a fast-track process for mortgage foreclosures.

National Mortgage News, June 29, 2016--Passy, Jacob The Supreme Court agreed Tuesday to hear a case regarding a clause in Fannie Mae's corporate charter that awards jurisdiction over every case involving the government-sponsored enterprise to federal courts.

National Mortgage News, June 29, 2016--Collins, Brian The Federal Housing Finance Agency is soliciting industry input on how to improve Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac's credit risk transfer transactions, for the first time considering front-end transactions rather than back-end deals.

National Mortgage News, June 29, 2016--Wack, Kevin In the aftermath of the foreclosure crisis, the federal government wants mortgage companies to be proactive in reaching out to delinquent borrowers. At the same time, the Obama administration is also trying to protect U.S. consumers from unwanted calls to their cellphones.

Wall Street Journal, June 29, 2016--Tracy, Ryan; Borak, Donna U.S. banking units of Deutsche Bank, Santander fail, same as last year; Morgan Stanley's approval is conditional and bank has to resubmit capital plan.

Fortune, June 29, 2016--Gandel, Stephen On Wednesday, the Federal Reserve said that Morgan Stanley had to resubmit its stress test for "qualitative" reasons. It was the only U.S. bank not to fully pass this year's stress test.

National Mortgage News, June 28, 2016--Collins, Brian The Federal Home Loan banks of Topeka and San Francisco signed up to participate in a Mortgage Partnership Finance program that pools and securitizes government-backed loans via Ginnie Mae.

National Mortgage News, June 28, 2016--Fest, Glenn Nationstar Mortgage is issuing its fifth securitization of nonperforming reverse mortgages, a unique esoteric residential mortgage-backed securities class the mortgage servicer has engaged in four previous transactions.

MarketWatch, June 30, 2016--Riquier, Andrea Nearly a decade after the subprime crisis, many neighborhoods are still plagued by undead leftovers from the crash. "Zombie foreclosures" are those that have been begun--but not finished--by lenders. As homes sit empty, they invite vandalism, drag down property values and erode municipal tax bases.