Regulators look for do-over on Dodd-Frank mortgage regulation

Financial regulators are revisiting one of the key Dodd-Frank regulations pertaining to mortgages, two years after industry and consumer groups warned that the original proposal would raise borrowing costs for homeowners.

On Wednesday, six federal agencies tasked with regulating banking and housing finance released a 499-page proposal for a rule mandated by the Dodd-Frank Act that requires banks to retain a portion of the risk created in securitizing mortgages. The provision was intended to ensure that lenders have some “skin in the game” to prevent them from loosening mortgage standards for loans packaged into securities, a phenomenon thought by many to have contributed to the 2008 financial crisis.