MBA Opposes Expanded FHFA Power Over Non-Bank Servicers

The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) came out against a proposal by the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) in its annual report to Congress that the regulator’s powers be expanded to include examination authority over non-bank servicers.

 

“In its role as conservator, FHFA already has the ability to set GSE counterparty requirements on servicers and the CFPB’s comprehensive mortgage servicing rules apply to all mortgage servicers,” said David H. Stevens, president and CEO of the MBA. “By statutory design, this is also an area of significant state authority and examination activity. Granting the FHFA this additional authority absent preemption of duplicative state requirements would result in an even more burdensome regulatory regime in a space that has already seen spiraling costs due to regulatory duplication.”

 

Stevens added that the FHFA’s highlighting of the Financial Stability Oversight Council’s (FSOC) “concern regarding the security of third-party service providers is, in our view, irrelevant because the FSOC’s recommendation was made specifically in the context of cybersecurity concerns, and does not reference mortgage servicers or any risks that are inherent to the business of servicing loans.”

---