Compliance & Regulation

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. has scheduled a March 29 board meeting to take up the long-await proposed rule that will determine which “high quality” mortgages are exempt from risk retention.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is going to allocate half its budget to supervision and enforcement of consumer protection laws with a strong emphasis on non-bank lenders.

A Kansas thrift has teamed up with Bankers Portfolio to refinance underwater mortgages where investors have agreed to take principal writedowns that meet requirements of a Federal Housing Administration program.

Forthcoming regulations could make conventional mortgages more expensive to the wide swath of homebuyers and owners who can't put 20% down, depressing originations and potentially undermining the housing recovery.

When Congress debated a bill several years ago to create a new regulator for the government-sponsored enterprises, many parts were controversial, but nearly all lawmakers agreed that the agency should be independently funded and not subject to the appropriations process.

With the persistent aftereffects from the home loan crisis, government agencies and private litigants are increasing the pressure on banks and other lending institutions to provide loan-related information.

A Northern District of California federal jury convicted Doris Anyanwu and Hyacinth Udeh of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and using false claims of U.S. citizenship.

On March 9, 2011 a 14-count mortgage fraud indictment was unsealed accusing JOAN C. TEETERS AND JONATHAN MARC NATTIER, RESIDENTS OF FOLEY, ALA., with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, mail fraud and bank fraud, and they both face a maximum sentence of 20 years as to that count. Teeters was charged in all 14 counts of the indictment.

JPMorgan Chase chairman Jamie Dimon recently sat down with analysts at Citigroup Global Markets and told them what many smaller players in the mortgage business have believed all along: that a 20% downpayment definition on the 'qualified residential mortgage' test will benefit the nation's megabanks.

A mortgage industry proposal to create "point banks" that loan officers can tap to grant price concessions to borrowers has been shot down by Federal Reserve Board staff.