Compliance & Regulation

After rating the performance of its top 10 HAMP servicers, the Treasury Department said JPMorgan Chase, and Bank of America need to make further improvements before they receive incentive payments from the government.

The mortgage industry is having growing concerns about a payroll tax relief measure that would raise GSE guarantee fees by 12.5 basis points, using the additional revenues to pay for other government programs.

Agency prepayment speeds came in line with expectations in the 30-year sector, where they were up 3% from the previous month, according to Credit Suisse's fixed income research report Wednesday.

The Attorneys General of California and Nevada are combining their investigative forces to combat misconduct and fraud within the mortgage industry against state homeowners.

Although a Senate Banking Committee hearing on Tuesday featured testimony from top officials at six different financial regulators, it was an agency not in the room that drew the most attention.

A key federal regulator is signaling that banking agencies are not close to formulating final regulations that address risk retention on mortgage securitizations.

Six mortgage industry groups are urging the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to preempt from state law new and improved mortgage disclosures, fearing that state interference will muddy and slow the process.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency this week hired Manoj K. Singh as principal examiner for risk, in charge of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Bank of America Corp. has agreed to pay $315 million to settle claims that its Merrill Lynch unit made false and misleading statements about the quality of subprime mortgage-backed securities it sold to investors.

This week's showdown over the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau will likely be the first of many as Democrats prepare to make consumer protection a top campaign issue in the 2012 election.