Compliance & Regulation

President Obama's decision to create a new task force to investigate risky lending and securitization practices leading up to the financial crisis could complicate and delay a potential $25 billion settlement involving foreclosure and servicing abuses.

Citigroup recently told its mortgage correspondents that going forward it will only buy "low risk" loans. What's a low risk loan, you ask? Answer: any mortgage that has an almost zero chance of going south.

Many fondly recall their kindergarten years. The teachers had a supernatural power to transform children into students while also starting the learning process of basic life skills. Interestingly, many of these kindergarten lessons are just as important for financial services executives today, even more so for mortgage bankers going through tough times.

The debate over the definition of the qualified residential mortgage slated for use in determining regulatory risk retention standards boils down to two key questions, John Walsh, the acting Comptroller of the Currency, said in a speech at the American Securitization Forum's conference in Las Vegas.

Citigroup Inc. will no longer purchase "medium or high-risk" loans that could result in buyback requests from Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac, in the bank's latest effort to improve the quality of mortgages it buys from correspondent lenders, according to an internal memo obtained by American Banker.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau will tap small lenders to review its approach to merging the RESPA and TILA mortgage disclosure forms before issuing a proposal for public comment.

President Obama announced Tuesday night a plan to collect fees from large banks to help fund greater loan refinancings for underwater mortgagors.

The Federal Reserve’s 26-page white paper has generated a lot of commentary, both pro and con, since being released on Jan. 4. While others spend time and energy debating whether or not it’s the role of the Fed to comment on or recommend policy, I find the content itself far more interesting.

Rumors abound that the Federal Reserve is planning a new round of 'quantitative easing' as early as this spring.

Alaska developer Lee Baker, Jr., known in Anchorage as "The Condo King," has been indicted by a federal grand jury on charges that he lied on loan applications to Denali Alaskan Federal Credit Union.