The Institutional Risk Analyst

There are a number of factors that have led to the historic gains seen in equity markets since the election of Donald Trump and the subsequent tax cuts, especially when it comes to financials. Some of these assumptions were never realized, others no longer pertain. Number one was the idea that tax cuts would drive an increase in economic growth, and thus add more borrowing volumes for banks.

The end of the Progressive Inquisition at the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau is in sight, yet the housing industry continues to reel from the massive increase in the cost of regulation, which has seen productivity in the world of mortgage finance cut by two thirds since 2012.

Mortgage Finance: Crime & Punishment: When you have a regulator as brutal and arbitrary as the CFPB, an assortment of fixers are advisable. But no more. With the impending lobotomy of the CFPB now at hand, the street value of former CFPB regulators has fallen to a discount, says one well-placed Washington lawyer.

April 29, 2017 | Last week The IRA’s Chris Whalen participated in the Executive Roundtable in San Francisco, hosted by the Morrison Foerster Law firm. We got to hear from a lot of different representatives of the mortgage and fintech sectors. The big worry at the table is that production of new mortgages in 2017 is down about 30% compared with last year due to the rise in interest rates following the November election of Donald Trump. Trump politics drives interest rates