Time to step up the oversight of CMHC operations

BOYD ERMAN

From Tuesday's Globe and Mail

Posted on Monday, March 21, 2011 7:27PM EDT

More than two years after the financial crisis brought down banks and mortgage insurers in the U.S., it’s hard to believe that there’s still a huge financial institution in this country that’s operating in a regulatory grey zone, with little in the way of oversight.
The federally owned Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. is bigger than some big banks and its risks are borne by every Canadian. Yet the country’s main financial regulator does not oversee it. Nor does CMHC officially report to the Finance Minister.Whether it is in Tuesday’s budget or after an election, Ottawa should improve the oversight of CMHC by fixing those flaws.

It’s one of the final but very necessary steps the government needs to take to rein in the risk to taxpayers posed by the housing sector. Finance Minister Jim Flaherty’s decision to pull back amortizations for insured mortgages from 40 to 30 years, and to increase down payment requirements for home buyers, were the right first moves, reducing not only CMHC’s risk but the risks to the financial health of everyday Canadians, without squashing the housing market (so far).

But now it’s time for structural changes to ensure that CMHC operates in a low-risk manner for the people who own it. That would, of course, be you and me. That means transferring oversight of the insurance and securitization operations of CMHC to the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions, and making the Minister of Finance formally responsible for it.

CMHC is by any measure one of the biggest financial institutions in the country, and it’s getting bigger every year. It has estimated its own 2010 revenue at $14.7-billion, more than Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, the country’s fifth-largest bank. CMHC estimates it had net income of $1-billion last year, in line with that of the No. 6 bank, National Bank of Canada.

CMHC has mortgage insurance in force that will soon exceed half a trillion dollars. Because of that, it’s the very definition of systemically important institution. That insurance safeguards the balance sheets of Canada’s big banks, and is backed explicitly by the federal government.

Who is minding this huge, crucial beast that puts taxpayer money on the line? The answer is Canada’s Minister of Human Resources – not Mr. Flaherty, despite his sway over items such as mortgage rules – and a board of directors that is largely drawn from the real estate and building businesses, with little background in banking or insurance.

That arrangement may have made sense when CMHC was primarily engaged in tasks like providing low-income housing, but now the mortgage insurance side of the business dwarfs other components and requires new gatekeepers.

The insurance and securitization business of CMHC should report to the Finance Minister directly, and it should be explicitly overseen by OSFI. The board of directors overseeing the insurance and securitization business should have a stronger background in those fields.

If that means splitting CMHC’s functions, then that’s what should happen.

CMHC says it hews to the guidelines put forward by OSFI, in some areas like capital going one better, but there’s no watchdog from OSFI ensuring that’s the case. It’s a trust-me story.

Do something dumb, or take too much risk, and OSFI has a reputation for being in your face soon after demanding a fix. CMHC should face the same real-time scrutiny.

To be clear, from the numbers we can see, there is no indication that CMHC is badly run. It has come through the recession largely unscathed.

It’s profitable, funnelling $12.3-billion into government coffers in the past decade.

The balance sheet is sound. There is a big equity cushion ahead of the mortgages that CMHC insures, on average 45 per cent as of the end of 2009, according to the company. Capital levels are at two times the level that OSFI requires, according to CMHC.

In other words, if people start defaulting on their mortgages more often, there’s a lot of home equity and balance sheet capital to take the blow before the costs start falling on taxpayers.

At least, that’s what CMHC tells us. But it doesn’t tell us as much as it probably should. Public disclosure from CMHC is basically limited to financial statements in an annual report that, while audited by the Auditor General and a private firm, tend to lag behind the times. So far, there’s no sign of 2010’s final numbers.

From the point of view of the taxpayer, OSFI regulation of CMHC isn’t perfect. OSFI’s job is not to protect the shareholders of banks and insurers; it’s to protect depositors and policy holders. That means it wouldn’t be looking out for the taxpayers who own CMHC, but rather the people who bought insurance on their mortgages.

But given what’s at stake, more oversight is better than less, and OSFI is the best option.