Prepared Remarks of MBA President and CEO Bob Broeksmit, CMB, at the 2026 Secondary and Capital Markets Conference

NEW YORK (May 18, 2026) — MBA’s President and CEO Bob Broeksmit, CMB, delivered the following remarks at the 2026 Secondary and Capital Markets Conference:

Good morning! On behalf of the Mortgage Bankers Association, thank you for joining us this week. Thank you, as well, for your membership and partnership. We couldn’t be more grateful for your support—and we couldn’t be more honored to represent you in Washington, D.C.

These are busy times in our nation’s capital. Everyone’s talking about the issues that matter to you. D.C. is laser-focused on housing and mortgages—especially how to make them more affordable.

That’s the buzzword in Washington these days—affordability. At the White House, and in Congress, there’s a real sense of urgency. They know there’s a need for significant reform, and the MBA couldn’t agree more. We are fighting for affordability. But we know that not all reforms are created equal. So we’re fighting to ensure that reform is done right.

To that end, MBA has launched a full-court press in Washington, D.C. We talk to congressional leaders and senior administration officials every week—if not every day. For my part, I’ve lost track of how many meetings I’ve had in the White House and Treasury Department. I’ve also testified to Congress multiple times in the past few months. That includes a recent testimony that dealt entirely with the secondary market.

I told the House Financial Services Committee a truth that’s never said enough in Washington. The secondary market is absolutely critical for the American Dream. We all know that in this room—but policymakers constantly need to be reminded. You provide liquidity, stability, efficiency, and certainty—all of which make the American housing market the envy of the world. Bottom line, the MBA is keeping you at the forefront of every conversation—because that’s where the secondary market belongs.

The good news is that when the MBA speaks, policymakers listen—and by and large, they like what they hear. They know that we represent the financial professionals who open the door to the American Dream. We tell them, in no uncertain terms, that the American people depend on you. And we say that you need all the support you can get.

Policymakers also appreciate that when MBA talks, we tell the truth. I suspect you all saw the story that said the median age of the first-time homebuyer is now 40 years old. That would be terrible—if it were accurate. But it isn’t.

The moment we saw that claim hit the headlines, our research team looked into it. They found that small survey was an outlier, at best. In reality, the median first-time homebuyer is still between 32 and 34 years old. That’s basically unchanged for more than a decade. And it proves what we’ve been telling policymakers—that you are doing heroic work to keep the American dream attainable for the next generation.

Your efforts are even more impressive given the current headwinds. Mortgage rates remain stubbornly high. That looks unlikely to change for the foreseeable future, according to our projections. But that doesn’t mean it’s impossible to make homebuying more affordable. To the contrary—high mortgage rates make other reforms even more important. Smart policy change is an immediate way to save people money.

And the Trump administration agrees! In March, the President issued a pair of executive orders to promote affordability in the housing market. Most notably, the President ordered federal agencies to issue new rules that lower costs and increase access to mortgage credit.

The White House is wise to focus on this area. A lot of burdensome regulations need to change. Especially the ones that increase costs without providing much benefit or protection to Americans.

An obvious example is the Loan Officer Compensation Rule. It prevents lenders from offering better terms to potential customers who are shopping for the most competitive offer. That’s an easy way to lower costs, yet it’s illegal. There’s also the Qualified Mortgage Rule. While it’s very effective and well-crafted overall, it still needs targeted changes so lenders can offer streamlined refinances on Fannie and Freddie loans. And then there are certain TRID requirements, which have huge compliance costs for no good reason.

Clearly, there are plenty of good ways to roll back red tape and make mortgages more affordable while still protecting borrowers. The question now is what, exactly, the administration will do. The White House has said that it wants to help community banks and smaller institutions. But they aren’t the only lenders who need relief from red tape. So do credit unions, IMBs, large banks, and many others.

We are making this crystal clear. The best reforms will take the unnecessary burdens off every lender—regardless of size or business model -- while retaining core consumer protections. After all, if every lender gets relief, they can pass that relief onto every American buying a home. That’s especially true in a market like this. Lenders won’t miss a chance to help people save money. But they can’t offer help if they’re still wrapped in red tape.

Whatever the regulation, the MBA will continue to urge the White House to do what’s right, across the entire lending market. At the same time, we’ll continue to support a better framework for the Basel III bank capital requirements.

For years, we’ve been telling everyone in Washington that Basel III was a cure that’s worse than the disease. The 2023 version would have led to higher prices and fewer mortgages—exactly what Americans don’t need right now.

Fortunately, the federal regulators have now unveiled a new proposal that’s far superior to the old one. It omits the most excessive and burdensome capital requirements, with a more balanced approach to risk mitigation. That’s no accident. The MBA played a central role in getting rid of the worst mandates. Put simply, we moved Basel III in a better direction.

Just look at mortgage servicing rights. The current rule raised the risk weight on MSRs from 100% to 250%, with no empirical justification. As a result, banks looked at the capital cost and started walking away from mortgage servicing. The new proposal recognizes that 250% might not be the appropriate risk weight, and requests input from stakeholders on what the appropriate number should be. MBA will be recommending that the risk weight for MSRs return to 100%. That should increase bank MSA activity and MSA values. To put this in perspective, a 25-basis point increase in servicing value is a 25-basis point reduction in closing costs – or $1,000 in savings on a $400,000 loan. That’s real relief at a time like this, especially for first-time homebuyers.

We’re also striving to improve the treatment of warehouse lending. Under the current system, warehouse lines carried a 100% risk weight, but that defies logic. If an IMB fails to repay, a bank gets the whole loan, but at only a 50% risk weight. Are you kidding me? The risk weights shouldn’t improve when a counterparty fails!

MBA pointed out this obvious absurdity. The good news is that the new proposal is better than the old one. But there’s still work to do. The risk weightings should be fully aligned. The current policy makes it more difficult for banks to participate in the lending and servicing business. We need a policy that fully recognizes and respects the role that banks play in providing vital liquidity to IMBs, who make the bulk of affordable loans to American families.

There’s more I could say about the new Basel III proposal. For instance, we’re strongly calling on agencies to change the capital requirements for banks that have loans on portfolio that have private mortgage insurance. They’re obviously not as risky, and the rules should reflect that. Bottom line, there several places in Basel III that still need fine-tuning. I said exactly that to the House Financial Services Committee in a testimony last month, even as I praised regulators for the excellent progress they’ve made. Here’s a quick three-minute video that shows the highlights of my over 3 hours of testimony.

MBA will continue to fight for the best outcome. At the end of the day, Basel III needs to foster a deeper and more liquid mortgage market—the kind of market that makes homebuying more affordable for all.

So far, I’ve focused on the many ways that MBA is moving federal policy in a better direction. We’ve been on offense on quite a few fronts. But we’ve also had to play some defense. One such fight is unfolding in Congress right now.

As we gather here, the House and the Senate are trying to pass a landmark housing bill. Most of what’s in the legislation is positive – including a greater recognition modular and manufactured housing options. But the Senate’s version has a harmful ban on institutional investors. It’s a policy that’s destined to reduce housing supply.

A ban would lead to less new rental home construction, thereby decreasing the supply of available homes overall. But that’s a guaranteed recipe for higher prices. MBA has opposed any such effort that would make homeownership – or rental housing, for that matter – harder to achieve. We’re holding firm and talking to Congress every day. Our message is clear: Don’t make homeownership more unaffordable. Now is the time to open doors, not close them with self-defeating bans.

In response to our advocacy, last week, House Financial Services Committee Chairman French Hill and Ranking Member Maxine Waters reached a deal to move an amended bill to the House floor later this week.    

Among its changes, the House bill clarifies and broadens the Senate bill’s exemptions to the institutional investor ban for build-to-rent properties and attached/contiguous multifamily properties.  It also preserves needed improvements to rural housing programs and appraisal-related provisions.  And now rescopes and appropriately narrows a proposed expansion of an inefficient “first look” requirement for servicers. 

I’m optimistic that Congress will hear us and do what’s right, potentially in the coming days and weeks. Lawmakers don’t have much time before they leave town to campaign for the midterms.  to get a bicameral, bipartisan deal to the President’s desk

The short legislative window also means that Congress is unlikely to take up GSE reform before the year is out. Even so, we’re still monitoring the situation closely. Our position on GSE reform has not changed and will not change. If and when it finally happens, it must be done in the right way. Now is no time to disrupt capital markets or housing markets. Just the opposite: Now is the time to protect and strengthen those markets, for the sake of Americans and the affordability they deserve.

The last point I want to make is that while MBA is heavily focused on short-term opportunities, we’re also addressing long-term needs. In recent months, we’ve begun to do more work in the non-Agency lending space. This part of the market is growing fast.

MBA recently established a non-Agency forum to help our members navigate this space. We’ve also convened a Peer Group Roundtable for companies doing non-agency and non-QM lending so that they can benchmark their activities against others in the business. These initiatives will help us stay on top of this growing market’s development. They’ll also help us stay ahead of the policy landscape. Regulators are taking more notice of this part of the market. We want to ensure that any potential policies reflect reality—and common sense.

Like I said at the start of my remarks, these are busy times in Washington, D.C. But that’s what we like at the MBA. We exist to serve you, and the more we do on your behalf, the more you can do in communities nationwide. Our North Star is to empower you, because you succeed by helping Americans succeed.

We deeply appreciate the role you play. Every day, you advance the American Dream, making it more affordable and accessible for the next generation. You do it in ways that are often unseen, but your impact is enormous and undeniable. Thank you for everything you do, and please know that at the MBA, we’ll keep fighting to help you do even more good for the American people.

Enjoy the conference!