The Mortgage Bankers Association formed a task force to revisit the future of the single-family secondary mortgage market, MBA Chairman Debra Still said.
Executive vice president Tim Dale of Mortgage Lending at BB&T (BBT) and former chairman of MBA’s Residential Board of Governors will lead the GSE Single Family Task Force.
The task force will work in two phases. The first phase will include revisiting the association’s end-state policy position from 2009. Also during the first phase, members of the task force will identify issues that will need to be considered during transition of government-sponsored entitities Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac into a system that includes the private mortgage market.
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“In 2009, MBA was first out of the box and the original thought-leader with its proposal for the future of the GSEs and the secondary mortgage market,” Still said.
“The concepts contained in the MBA proposal became central to the most serious discussions over the future role of the government in housing finance. However, four years later, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are still in conservatorship, with no end in sight.”
The MBA released a revised report on “Recommendations for the Future Government Role in the Core Secondary Mortgage Market.”
“While clearly not the only potential framework for the future, the council recommendations represent a clear, concise and workable approach to ensuring liquidity to the mortgage market. The proposed framework carefully balances the government’s ability to ensure liquidity with the need to protect taxpayers from credit and interest rate risks associated with mortgage finance,” then MBA president and CEO John Courson and Michael Berman, president and chief executive officerof CWCapital, said in the opening statement.
In the second phase, members are expected to create roadmap documentation, detailing how much of the prioritized transition issues should be handled in getting to an end state.
During each step, the task force will engage with critical stakeholder groups to solicit input and create buy-in.
“Most stakeholders agree that we need to re-engage private capital in the market, but that won’t happen until the fundamental questions around the GSEs and the government role is resolved,” Dale said.
He added, “Our diverse task force of industry leaders will tackle these issues, with a key focus on transition.”
The GSE Single Family Task Force will coordinate closely with the GSE Multifamily Task Force, which released its white paper Dec. 4.
The paper, titled “Ensuring Liquidity and Stability: The Future of Multifamily Housing Finance and the Government-Sponsored Enterprises,” calls for a government role that attracts private capital and outlines a government-backed insurance program that ensures access to liquidity in all market conditions.
The paper underscores the importance of multifamily rental housing and the roles of the government-sponsored enterprises.
The GSE Single Task Force will consist of members from various companies including JPMorgan Chase (JPM), PNC Bank (PNC), Wells Fargo Home Mortgage (WFC), PennyMac Loan Services and Quicken Loans.
