DC's biggest unaddressed financial regulation issue will be a focus of discussion in San Diego this week at the Mortgage Bankers Association annual convention and expo. Featured speakers at the conference for mortgage lenders and housing-market participants will include HUD Secretary Julian Castro, CFPB Director Richard Cordray, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac CEOs and the White House housing adviser. Topics include risk retention and loan servicing as efforts to reform U.S. housing finance remain gridlocked seven years after the peak of the subprime mortgage crisis. Extraordinary government support for Fannie and Freddie, the dominant mortgage companies that have been under U.S. control since 2008, is almost certain to remain in place well beyond the presidential and congressional elections next year, Standard & Poor's credit analyst Nikola Swann said in a report published Oct. 14.