Finance

The business of bundling riskier U.S. mortgages into bonds without government backing is gearing up for a comeback. Just don't call it subprime.

With conservatorship of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac well into its seventh year, the government has now had control of the housing agencies longer than 47 members of the Senate have been office.

Progress Residential priced its second securitization of single-family rental properties.

Ocwen Financial Corp., one of the biggest U.S. mortgage servicers, rejected as "groundless" accusations by an investor group that the company’s practices created defaults on home-loan bonds backed by debt it oversees.

Freddie Mac is selling $410 million of deeply delinquent U.S. home loans in its second sale of the debt.

Mortgage professional hiring and new job appointments for the week ending Jan. 23.

BlueMountain Capital Management is claiming that "misconduct" by Ocwen Financial Corp. triggered a default in securities issued by an affiliate of the mortgage servicer.

A new forecast from Freddie Mac suggests that mortgage rates will remain stable for the first two quarters of 2015.

This isn't the kind of non-qualified mortgage securitization that investors have been clamoring for.

The pension fund sector owns hundreds of billions of dollars of mortgage securities. But MBS holdings are such a small percentage of their portfolios, pensions may not be aware of their heft in the industry.

Yields on government-backed mortgage securities that guide U.S. home-loan rates widened to the most relative to Treasuries in almost three months as refinancing soars amid lower borrowing costs.

Standard & Poor's is close to an agreement to pay $1.4 billion to settle claims by the Justice Department and states attorneys general that it inflated subprime mortgage-bond ratings before the financial crisis, according to two people with knowledge of the talks.

Standard & Poor’s agreed to a one-year suspension from rating certain commercial mortgage bonds and $80 million in fines to settle charges with the Securities and Exchange Commission and the New York and Massachusetts Attorneys Generals offices.

Canyon Partners is paring its bullish investments in the mortgage-bond market after the hedge fund made about $7 billion in the past decade capitalizing on opportunities leading up to and following the financial crisis.

Justin Wheeler, who was named CEO last week of Berkadia Commercial, the commercial-mortgage business owned by Berkshire Hathaway and Leucadia National, said global investors are increasingly betting on U.S. property.

The federal government's recent decisions to lower annual premiums for new borrowers and reduce down payment requirements suggest it has little interest in making room for private capital in the mortgage market.

Standard & Poor's will be suspended for a year from rating bonds in one of its most lucrative businesses in a $60 million settlement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

The Obama Administration's decision to cut the FHA annual premium by 50 basis points will do little to boost a lagging housing market where banks are looking for near-zero lending risk.

Altisource Portfolio Solutions promoted John Vella to the new position of chief revenue officer in a bid to grow beyond its relationship with embattled former parent Ocwen Financial.

MGIC on Tuesday reported an increase in its quarterly earnings, as the company slashed its losses and boosted net premiums.