David Stevens, mortgage icon, dead at 66

David Stevens, a mortgage industry figure who held jobs across a broad spectrum during his career, has passed away at 66, according to published reports. A statement from the Mortgage Bankers Association, the industry trade group he headed up for seven years, said Stevens' death on Jan. 16 was unexpected. However, it was well-known that he had been battling cancer for many years, although at the time he announced his retirement from the MBA in August 2018, he added he was in remission. Stevens was instrumental in rebuilding the once-troubled organization, a statement from his successor Bob Broeksmit noted.

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Freddie Mac adds Ford Foundation's Roy Swan as director

Government-sponsored enterprise Freddie Mac announced the election of a financial services and investments executive to its board of directors. Roy Swan, who currently serves as director of mission investments at Ford Foundation, will assume board responsibilities on Feb 19. Swan has held his role with the foundation since 2018, after previously serving as a leader at Morgan Stanley over the preceding decade. Among his leadership positions with the investment bank was president and chief operating officer of Morgan Stanley Trust, as well as co-head of global sustainable finance. His professional background also includes experience in law, banking, corporate finance and public policy.

Wells Fargo, Ocwen defend against ERISA claims on appeal

A pair of mortgage servicers asked an appellate court to affirm a ruling against pension fund investors that claimed the companies breached fiduciary duties under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act. "The mortgages are not plan assets. Defendants are not ERISA fiduciaries," Ocwen Financial and Wells Fargo claimed in a response brief Bloomberg Law reported on earlier. The mortgage companies filed that brief late last week in the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The escalating case could set a new precedent if it established fiduciary duties for entities that manage mortgages in securitization trusts for pension fund investors. 

Tennessee bank to pay $1.9M in redlining case

Patriot Bank in Millington, Tennessee, agreed to pay $1.9 million to resolve allegations that it engaged in lending discrimination by redlining majority-Black and Hispanic neighborhoods in Memphis, the Justice Department said in a press release on Wednesday. The DOJ alleged that, from 2015 through at least 2020, the $460 million-asset Patriot avoided providing mortgage services to majority-Black and Hispanic neighborhoods in Memphis and discouraged people seeking credit in those communities from obtaining home loans. Over the same six-year period, other banks received nearly 3.5 times as many loan applications compared to Patriot in the same neighborhoods, the DOJ said.

What would Dave Stevens say about Basel III? Whalen says

The passing of David Stevens at the very young age of 66 brings into sharp focus some of the challenges that the housing finance industry faces today. Many of these challenges are the result of partisan politics plain and simple, and come from the policy actions of individuals who may or may not have the best interests of consumers or the housing market at heart. And they may not even know why. Take the Basel III endgame proposal, for example. Dave had a lot of problems with the B3E proposal. To honor our departed comrade Dave Stevens, who started his career in the secondary market where dry mortgage notes are sold to investors, let’s delve down into the historical reasons why the B3E proposal is so badly constructed, both from a financial perspective and from an historical view. 

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