Compliance & Regulation

In the wake of an unprecedented U.S. housing bust that evolved into a global financial crisis, the business of bundling home loans that aren't backed by the American government into bonds that can be sold to investors has all but disappeared.

American International Group won a decision that narrowed the claims by six investment funds that opted out of a $970.5 million class-action settlement last year over allegations the insurer misled investors about its exposure to subprime mortgages.

Evans Bancorp in Hamburg, N.Y., has agreed to pay $825,000 to settle a lawsuit that accused the company of mortgage redlining.

The Justice Department's announcement that it would target individual executives at banks and other companies that are being investigated for wrongdoing has sparked a debate about whether the move is actually substantive or instead just designed to boost the agency's public image.

The rising costs to service mortgages reflects a market where there are not only downsides to being too small, but hurdles to being too large — raising the question of whether there's a middle ground where servicers are not too big, not too small, but just right.

Three former Nomura Holdings Inc. traders pleaded not guilty to charges that they defrauded investors by inflating the prices of mortgage-backed securities in the wake of the U.S. financial crisis.

Royal Bank of Scotland said it will return to selling interest-only mortgages after scrapping the riskier loans in the wake of the financial crisis.

Moody's Investors Service just flagged a risk in bonds backed by single-family rentals: there aren't enough special servicers.

Comptroller of the Currency Thomas Curry said banks could consider loan-to-value ratios above 90% to help revitalize areas hurt by the housing crisis.

Three former Nomura Holdings Inc. traders were charged with defrauding investors by inflating the prices of mortgage-backed securities, the latest cases to come out of a U.S. crackdown on deceptive sales practices in the market for complex bonds.