US Treasury’s Yellen says Congress should act on nonbank mortgage sector

U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Friday called for Congress to give regulators more power to oversee the growing nonbank mortgage industry, which she said presented unique risks to financial stability.

Yellen spoke during a meeting of the Financial Stability Oversight Council, a regulatory body she chairs and which was created after the 2007-2009 financial crisis. It is tasked with managing risks to the financial system.

The council, whose members head other top financial regulators, voted unanimously to approve publishing a report and related recommendations on the issue.

The take

Regulators are moving to cover what they say is a gap in their power to address risk in what is now a large and growing majority of the mortgage market.

 

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