Compliance & Regulation

The Justice Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission have both filed civil lawsuits against Bank of America alleging that the financial institution and certain affiliates defrauded investors about the riskiness of $850 million in residential mortgage-backed securities.

Five California men were sentenced for defrauding hundreds of victims in a real estate scam that included collecting upfront fees for promising loan modification services that never occurred.

It sounds like people are optimistic about Freddie Mac’s recent risk-sharing transaction even though they have some questions about them.

Grapevine poster MTB has started a thread commenting on the latest malaprop from Vice President Joe Biden regarding the word “jobs” and the number of letters used to spell it.

Analysts credit improving housing prices and low interest rates that helped homeowners refinance or sell for driving down delinquencies and the average mortgage debt from $188,341 in 2Q12 to $187,635 in 2Q13.

Richmond, Calif.’s plan to keep homeowners out of foreclosure by seizing underwater mortgages through eminent domain is unlikely to be successfully implemented, according to Moody’s Investors Service.

While the Obama administration has publicly kept its distance from the housing finance reform debate during the past two years, it has been privately working in recent months to help move a bill forward.

Ethics concerns raised by House lawmakers about Raj Date, the former No. 2 at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau who left to form his own firm, appear overblown.

The Obama administration will be calling on Congress to pass legislation that will allow Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to refinance underwater loans in private label securities.

There are questions about how the government-sponsored enterprises’ risk sharing bonds may be treated under Basel III international accounting standards that could affect bank investors’ appetite for them.