Risk Retention on Mortgages: Boon or Costly Mistake?

Financial Services Practice Group Teleforum

Risk Retention on Mortgages: Boon or Costly Mistake?One of the major issues under  the Dodd-Frank Act is required credit risk retention on securitized mortgages, or “skin in the game,” unless the mortgages in the securitized pool are “QRM” (“qualified residential mortgages”).  QRM must be defined by financial regulation, a task which has proved highly controversial.  Will mortgage finance markets perform better if parties selling mortgages have skin in the game?  What are the problems, unintended consequences, and costs of such a requirement—perhaps cutting off credit for some potential borrowers?  Which parties or transactions should be exempt?  Should it be a requirement at all, as opposed to an alternative parties can structure as they so choose?  Are there any helpful examples from other countries or credit markets? This issue becomes even more complicated when the interplay between the QRM rule and other requirements in the Dodd-Frank Act – the Qualified Mortgage rule and the lower HOEPA thresholds – and the CFPB’s and HUD’s views on disparate impact are considered. The panel will discuss the panoply of new rules and their potential impact on the U.S. mortgage market.

Featuring:

  • Mr. Michael Calhoun, Center for Responsible Lending
  • Ms. Anne C. Canfield, Canfield & Associates, Inc.
  • Mr. Bert Ely, Ely & Company, Inc.
  • Mr. Alex J. Pollock, American Enterprise Institute

Risk Retention on Mortgages: Boon or Costly Mistake?One of the major issues under  the Dodd-Frank Act is required credit risk retention on securitized mortgages, or “skin in the game,” unless the mortgages in the securitized pool are “QRM” (“qualified residential mortgages”).  QRM must be defined by financial regulation, a task which has proved highly controversial.  Will mortgage finance markets perform better if parties selling mortgages have skin in the game?  What are the problems, unintended consequences, and costs of such a requirement—perhaps cutting off credit for some potential borrowers?  Which parties or transactions should be exempt?  Should it be a requirement at all, as opposed to an alternative parties can structure as they so choose?  Are there any helpful examples from other countries or credit markets? This issue becomes even more complicated when the interplay between the QRM rule and other requirements in the Dodd-Frank Act – the Qualified Mortgage rule and the lower HOEPA thresholds – and the CFPB’s and HUD’s views on disparate impact are considered. The panel will discuss the panoply of new rules and their potential impact on the U.S. mortgage market.

Featuring:

  • Mr. Michael Calhoun, Center for Responsible Lending
  • Ms. Anne C. Canfield, Canfield & Associates, Inc.
  • Mr. Bert Ely, Ely & Company, Inc.
  • Mr. Alex J. Pollock, American Enterprise Institute

Call begins at 1:00 p.m. Eastern Time.

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