Corporate governance

Wells Fargo will lay off 1,000 workers primarily from its mortgage unit in the first major round of a previously announced plan to cut the bank's workforce by as much as 10% over the next three years.

Mutual of Omaha Bank company Synergy One Lending is preparing to acquire certain assets of BBMC Mortgage, a national mortgage company and division of Bridgeview Bank, which will expand its Midwest footprint and improve its strategic direction.

The company is facing criticism after a big chargeoff on two properties, showing that investors have little patience when a risky business model shows signs of distress.

The uproar over the incendiary writings of a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau official have led to calls for his removal, but the agency’s interim chief says he won’t “let any outside group dictate who works here.”

First Foundation sold loans to Freddie Mac to free up space for higher-yielding credits. It then bought the securities that were formed to replace other, lower-yielding assets through an often overlooked program.

Bemortgage, currently a division of Chicago's Bridgeview Bank formed last November by a former Guaranteed Rate executive, will become a part of CrossCountry Mortgage.

As the House Financial Services Committee prepares to hold a hearing Thursday on oversight of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, the exact focus of the hearing remains somewhat in flux.

The cuts are part of a broader effort to trim expenses by roughly $3 billion a year by 2020.

Level One Bank in Farmington, Mich., has hired a team of mortgage bankers from MB Financial, which previously announced it was shutting down this business line.

Banks could shed as much as 20 million square feet of office space over the next five years as they shift many functions to high-tech operations centers in markets with cheaper rents.

The deal is designed to improve capital ratios and reduce risk at the Seattle company.

Ruoff Financial will make its first push into banking with the purchase of SBB Bancshares.

The Seattle company is firing 127 people, or a tenth of its mortgage staff, after enduring months of slow activity.

Remax Holdings is focused on "what it does best" with its Motto Mortgage business and in facing off against Zillow's new home buying and selling initiative, a company executive said.

Sonoma County supervisors have signed off on a wide-ranging suite of policy changes intended to encourage construction of more new homes seven months after nearly 5,300 residences were lost here in last year's devastating wildfires.

Costs rose at the global bank, profit in North America fell 16% and questions are mounting for new CEO John Flint ahead of the release of his strategic plan.

The group says Mulvaney, who also runs OMB, was not totally forthcoming with the Senate Budget Committee about the foreclosure of a property he owns in South Carolina.

Mortgage and title insurance companies licensed in New York need to file disaster response plans this year in line with increased state attention to business continuity planning.

CEO Tim Sloan and board chair Elizabeth Duke fielded tough questions Tuesday on everything from the embattled bank’s culture to its ties to the private prison industry.

The Seattle company has faced criticism from an investor over its commitment to the business, which lost money in the first quarter.