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CSBS releases regulatory prudential standards for nonbank mortgage servicers

State Issues CSBS State Regulators Nonbank Mortgages Mortgage Servicing

State Issues

On July 26, the Conference of State Bank Supervisors (CSBS) released model state regulatory prudential standards for nonbank mortgage servicers. The prudential standards provide states with “a consistent framework that ensures covered nonbank servicers maintain the financial capacity to serve consumers and investors with heightened transparency, accountability and risk management standards.” According to CSBS, in the past 10 years, the nonbank mortgage servicer market has grown from 6 percent to 60 percent of the government agency mortgage market, representing at least 45 percent of the servicing market overall, with “[n]onbank mortgage servicers currently administer[ing] roughly three-quarters of the servicing for loans in Ginnie Mae mortgage backed-securities” (encompassing loans to veterans, first-time homebuyers, and low-to-moderate income borrowers). In response to concerns raised by state regulators about the lack of state standards to address servicers’ capital and liquidity levels, as well as inadequate corporate governance and board oversight identified by state and federal examiners, state regulators approved the prudential standards, which focus on two main areas: financial condition and corporate governance. The prudential standards—which “align with existing federal minimum eligibility requirements, wherever practical, to minimize regulatory burden for servicers”—cover both agency and non-agency servicing, and apply to servicers that service at least 2,000 loans and operate in at least two states. Exempt are small servicers that do not meet the minimum requirements, reverse mortgage loan servicers, not-for-profit mortgage servicers, and housing agencies. State agency commissioners are also given the authority to “increase requirements for high-risk servicers or even suspend the requirements in times of economic, societal or environmental volatility.” The prudential standards are part of CSBS’s eight Networked Supervision 2021 priorities, which are intended to advance its “strategy to streamline nonbank licensing and supervision and generate new data for risk analysis through expanded use of technology platforms.”