The Lede

Commercial property market supply and demand fundamentals remained relatively stable in the first quarter, said Moody's Investors Service, New York.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency extended the public comment period for the Agency's proposed rule on Enterprise Capital Requirements by an additional 60 days, citing "high level of interest in the proposed rule and requests from multiple stakeholders for more time to evaluate it."

The commercial mortgage-backed securities delinquency rate is likely to fall further to finish 2018 between 2.25 percent and 2.75 percent, said Fitch Ratings, New York.

American Banker, Aug. 6, 2018--Barbara Cooper-Jones (subscription)Ginnie Mae SVP outlines how the agency is moderninzing its operations.

Bloomberg, Aug. 6, 2018--Julie Verhage, Katherine ChiglinskyThe San Francisco-based company is launching Blend Insurance Agency. Much like its mortgage platform, the firm will leverage partnerships with large insurers to scale its business by pairing the offerings. One of those initial partners will be MetLife Inc., a U.S. insurer with more than $700 billion in assets.

Sky News, Aug. 6, 2018--Abid AliHSBC has agreed to pay $765 mmillion to the U.S. Department of Justice to settle a probe into the sale of mortgage-backed securities in the run-up to the financial crisis.

Reuters, Aug. 3, 2018--Lauren Tara LaCapra, Pete SchroederThe $8 million accrual is intended for roughly 625 borrowers who should have qualified for a loan modification under a program the Treasury Department set up in 2009 to help Americans who were struggling to make mortgage payments. An error in Wells Fargo's underwriting tool improperly excluded those borrowers, 400 of whom eventually had their homes foreclosed upon, the bank said.

Politico, Aug. 2, 2018--Lorraine Woellert, Katy O'DonnellLaura Wertheimer, inspector general for the Federal Housing Finance Agency, is under investigation for misconduct after complaints that she bowed to pressure from the agency's director, Mel Watt, to weaken her office's oversight.

National Mortgage News, Aug. 3, 2018--Brad Finkelstein (subscription)National MI deliberately dropped some of its customers in the second quarter, resulting in flat new insurance growth compared with the first quarter and a lower increase versus one year prior.

HousingWire, Aug. 2, 2018--Alcynna LloydFannie Mae reported income of $4.5 billion in the second quarter, primarily driven by an increase in credit-related income due to the redesignation of loans from held-for-investment to held-for-sale.

Denver Post, Aug. 3, 2018--Donovan HendersonAurora Loan Services LLC will pay a $41 million fine for what the U.S. Attorney says were fraudulent loans from 2004 to 2008 under an agreement with the government announced Thursday.

National Mortgage News, Aug. 2, 2018--Rachel Witkowski (subscription)Federal reporting requirements for mortgage data have been a moving target in recent years. Just as one set of policymakers expands reporting rules, another eases them. But bankers are starting to see more signs of clarity.

MarketWatch, Aug. 2, 2018--Andrea RiquierThe Mortgage Bankers Association put it this way in their own letter: "we firmly believe that mortgage borrowing costs should not be increased to pay for non-housing-related expenditures. The loan fees charged to veterans should reflect the credit risk associated with the VA guaranty, and any fee increases that are unrelated to this risk unnecessarily raise the cost of mortgage credit for veterans."

National Mortgage News, Aug. 1, 2018--Brad Finkelstein (subscription)Arch MI U.S. returned to having the No. 1 market share among private mortgage insurers as it increased its new insurance written 15% over the previous year.

American Banker, Aug. 1, 2018--Neil Haggerty (subscription)The Senate Banking Committee is postponing its vote on Kathy Kraninger's nomination to be the director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau as the Senate moved to adjourn for a short recess on Wednesday.

National Mortgage News, Aug. 1, 2018--Kristin Broughton (subscription)The beleaguered bank's $2.09 billion settlement stemmed from crisis-era mortgage problems, rather than revelations of new issues at Wells that could have sparked a regulatory backlash or probe that might cause headaches for other banks.

Mortgage Daily, Aug. 1, 2018More than two years after revealing a government investigation into how it handled sales of subprime residential mortgage-backed securities, Wells Fargo & Co. has agreed to a more than $2 billion settlement.

Mortgage Daily, July 31, 2018"This will protect residential and commercial real estate markets from potential harm, and provide stability for those that sell and administer the policies to millions of Americans," said Mortgage Bankers Association President and CEO David Stevens.

Mortgage Daily, Aug. 1, 2018Quarterly business increased at Genworth Mortgage Insurance Corp., as did earnings. In addition, the book of business expanded, and delinquency was sharply lower.

HousingWire, July 31, 2018--Kelsey RammirezThis income is up slightly from the first quarter this year, when the company reported comprehensive income of $2.2 billion, and up even more from the second quarter of 2017, when it saw a comprehensive income of $2 billion.