Compliance & Regulation

A new avenue of attack may be opening up for investors seeking to force big banks to buy back billions of dollars in mortgages: drag the trustees into the fight.

Michigan attorney general Bill Schuette has issued subpoenas against three national mortgage servicing providers as part of a criminal investigation pertaining to questionable mortgage documentation filings during the current foreclosure crisis.

The $200 million civil settlement with Regions Financial Corp.'s brokerage unit last week was the sort of case that the Securities and Exchange Commission and state regulators believe should guide industry behavior.

Shortly after Cornerstone Residential Management company settled a class-action lawsuit claiming discrimination against families with minor children, the housing developer was hit by another lawsuit alleging it has violated Fair Housing Act protections for people with disabilities for decades.

The Department of Justice has more than 15 "open investigations" into violations of the nation's fair lending laws, probes that could lead to charges against lenders if a pattern of abuse is uncovered, according to a key department official.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau will be seeking a second round of public comments on its prototype mortgage disclosure forms next week.

A new Office of Comptroller of the Currency survey will give home builders and Realtors more reason to complain that banks are continuing to tightened their underwriting standards and choke off credit to homebuyers.

GNMA executive Christopher Haspel is, more or less, a household name to lenders and servicers that deal with the government agency, and soon will be wearing a new hat—that of the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Over the last several decades, we have engaged in a financial experiment, or adventure, of exploding agency debt relative to Treasury securities.

The Supreme Court has agreed to hear a Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act case whose outcome could shield banks and other lenders from litigation under a wide range of federal and state laws.