CUNA Chief Economist Bill Hampel said upon the first few reads,a housing finance reform bill introduced Tuesday by Sens. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) and MarkWarner (D-Va.) appears to address most credit union issues, andoverall, CUNA has “very positive inclinations” toward it.

Hampel was speaking Friday morning as part of a panel of industry experts selected by Rep. Maxine Waters(D-Calif.) to discuss housing finance reform.

The Corker-Warner bill makes several references to providinginclusivity to small lenders, Hampel said, addressing a majorconcern small lenders have with a potentially privatized secondarymortgage market.

However, Hampel said, he is concerned about enforcing thosesmall-lender provisions, and said he hopes the final legislationcould provide remedies in the event small lenders are notincluded.

Panelist Mike Fratantoni, vice president of single-family research andpolicy development for the Mortgage Bankers Association, said hisorganization feels the bill's proposed secondary market structureis a move in the right direction, but said the MBA is concernedabout the overall cost to build the proposed system.

Credit union access to the secondary mortgage market isimportant, Hampel said during his opening remarks, because creditunions are increasingly selling mortgages to mitigate interest raterisk.

Credit unions originated $120 billion in mortgage loans lastyear, he said, but since the financial crisis, they've been sellingabout half of those mortgages. During the first quarter of 2013, headded, credit unions sold 60% of all mortgages to the secondarymarket.

Before the crisis, when rates were higher, credit unions onlysold one-third of their mortgages, he said.

“That practice of selling loans means a robust secondary marketis important to credit unions,” he said.

Hampel continued that CUNA recognizes that as the secondarymarket is reformed, costs to access it will rise, but the priceshouldn't be based upon volume.

Ann Grochala, vice president of lending and housing policy forthe Independent Community Bankers of America, said community banksalso have concerns about pricing based upon volume.

In particular, she said, banks located in rural areas or smallcommunities would suffer under any proposal for a new secondarymarket structure that includes pricing based upon volume.

If community banks were prevented from selling individual loansto the secondary market, they would be forced to pay additionalfees to third parties who pool loans, Grochala added.

Hampel added that in a fully or mostly privatized system,companies involved in mortgage loan securitization would also beinvolved in loan originations. Those securitizers would give betterdeals to originators that are part of their own corporatestructures, and make it tough for non-affiliated originators tocompete.

Grochala added firms that both securitize loans and originatethem would have access to small lender customer information.Community banks have had problems in the past with such firms usingthat information to steal customers, she said.

Other panelists included Anthony Hutchinson, senior policyrepresentative for the National Association of Realtors; CindyChetti, senior vice president of government affairs for theNational Multi Housing Council; and Tom Deutsch, executive directorof the American Securitization Forum.