Compliance & Regulation

Lenders increasingly want to control the marketing done by individual originators due to increasing industry compliance concerns, according to one vendor in the space.

While MERS QA is neither unreasonable nor unexpected, the challenges uncovered in the race to comply are significant. Never before has the industry asked servicers to ensure the data of originators.

Fitch Ratings in a recent report said it believes the Federal Housing Finance Agency's recent strategic plan for the government sponsored enterprises, which includes improved loan level reporting on securitizations, has positive potential for both agency and private label residential mortgage-backed securities.

"Out of the river there came up seven cows, sleek and fat, and they grazed among the reeds. After them, seven other cows, ugly and gaunt, came up out of the Nile...And the cows that were ugly and gaunt ate up the seven sleek, fat cows." - Genesis 41

The Obama administration's plan to refinance underwater borrowers with private-label mortgages was supposed to be dead on arrival -- but it appears Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama, the ranking Republican on the Banking Committee, wants to hear more.

JP Morgan Chase & Co. told a federal court in Wichita, Kan., that it should reject NCUA's claims regarding $1.4 billion of mortgage-backed securities sold to four failed corporate credit unions and dismiss the suit without even allowing for discovery.

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York announced the sale of the rest of the securities in the Maiden Lane II LLC (ML II) portfolio.

Banks and consultants are looking to improve money laundering detection systems using lessons adapted from their fight against consumer fraud.

Fannie Mae, in a new SEC filing, says that in late January it cut off Bank of America from selling most types of loans to the GSE because of "delays" by the lender in making good on outstanding buyback requests.

Federal Housing Finance Agency acting director Edward DeMarco continued to play defense Tuesday as senators grilled him over his unwillingness to let Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac forgive struggling homeowners' debt.