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Representatives from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and Ginnie Mae convened at the second annual Ginnie Mae Summit on September 22 to discuss initiatives and programs designed to create a healthy housing market.

A report filed last week by the Office of Inspector General of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) states that GSEs Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae ignored "red flags" with regards to a mortgage fraud scheme perpetrated by lenders Taylor, Bean, and Whitaker and Colonial Bank, which resulted in billions of dollars in losses for the GSEs.

The latest in a series of proposed GSE reforms was announced on Thursday. Congressional Representatives John K. Delaney (D-Maryland), John Carney (D-Delaware), and Jim Himes (D-Connecticut) introduced housing finance reform legislation, aimed at winding down Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and replacing them with a federally backed insurance program administered through Ginnie Mae.

Mortgage Industry Advisory Corporation (MIAC) announced two new mortgage servicing rights (MSR) portfolios totaling more than $694 million. The first offering is a $669.22 million portfolio from a seller with originations focused mostly in the Northeast. The portfolio contains a mix of Fannie Mae (47 percent) and Ginnie Mae (50.9 percent) loans, with warehouse loans making up the rest. The second offering is a $24.96 million portfolio featuring 79.8 percent Ginnie Mae and 20.2 percent Fannie Mae loans.

The fizzle of 2012's refinance boom and the publishing of new regulatory guidelines took their toll on origination numbers, but it was a decidedly different story for mortgage servicing rights (MSR) deals. DSNews.com takes a look back at some of the biggest wheelers and dealers in the MSR world over the past year, including Nationstar, Ocwen, Walter Investment Management Corp., and Two Harbors, among others.

Rushmore Loan Management Services LLC made announcements of two positive corporate developments Thursday. Rushmore has received approval to act as a Freddie Mac seller/servicer--a nod the company says will significantly expand its business. In addition, Standard & Poor's assigned an average rating to Rushmore as a residential special servicer and residential primary servicer, ranking the company's management and operations as above average.

Government agencies are seeing an increase in participation within the mortgage servicing space and are seeking to provide better insight into some of the new and growing players in the market, a panel of experts told the audience at a mortgage industry conference in Chicago this week. Dave Williams of Amerisave Mortgage Corp., David Allison with Dovenmuehle Mortgage, and representatives from Fannie Mae and Ginnie Mae all shared their thoughts with conference-goers on servicing mortgages for secondary market investors.

Former Ginnie Mae president Joseph J. Murin has a new spot on the board of Chrysalis Holdings, LLC. Murin will take his position as chairman, replacing outgoing chairman Paul Thompson III.

Residential Credit Solutions, Inc. (RCS) has just received approval from the Government National Mortgage Association (Ginnie Mae) to be an issuer and servicer for the Ginnie Mae I and II single-family mortgage-backed securities programs. Dennis Stowe, president and CEO of RCS, says the nod from Ginnie Mae will allow the company to provide assistance to a broader constituency of homeowners by expanding its servicing and sub-servicing offerings to both investors and issuers of federally insured and guaranteed loans.

Gateway Mortgage Group is a privately held mortgage bank headquartered in Tulsa, Oklahoma, which provides conventional, Federal Housing Administration (FHA), and Veterans Affairs (VA) loans through 50 retail branches nationwide. The company announced Thursday that it has developed an in-house subservicing unit focused on the specialty and default servicing of FHA and VA loans and hired Kevin Osuna to direct the new operation.