Compliance & Regulation

Real estate investment trusts don't pose the credit risk to the Federal Home Loan Bank System that regulators claim they do, said the CEO of Two Harbors Investment Corp.

Standard & Poor's chances of settling the government's lawsuit over mortgage-bond ratings for less than $1 billion may have slipped away after Bank of America Corp.'s Countrywide unit was socked with a $1.3 billion fine.

The Federal Housing Administration wants lenders to make fewer mistakes when writing mortgages for the government insurance program. The agency also wants to serve more borrowers with low credit scores. Getting both may be tricky.

The industry will have a place at the table to discuss the creation of risk-sharing arrangements, Curt Culver said at an investor conference.

Morgan Stanley agreed to pay $95 million to settle a lawsuit by buyers of residential mortgage-backed securities who accused the bank of making false and misleading claims about the underlying loans.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency is receptive to the idea of Federal Home Loan Bank mergers, according to the agency's director.

The Federal Housing Administration started selling distressed loans in 2012 to help communities hit hard by foreclosures while also reducing losses to its taxpayer-backed insurance fund.

Allegations lenders failed to lend in certain geographic areas that are racially or ethnically diverse are mounting.

A conservative housing critic and liberal consumer advocate have created a 15-year home loan for low-income borrowers to build more equity.

Commercial-mortgage bond buyers are girding for the biggest deluge of offerings in seven years just as the debt becomes harder to sell amid slipping underwriting standards.