Finance

Lower rates of return would require insurers to charge higher premiums or stop covering loans to borrowers with lower credit scores. (You know, the ones the government wants to help?)

These investors complain they get little say or direct recompense in government settlements with big banks over misrepresentations of mortgage securities like the Department of Justice's $7 billion deal with Citigroup.

"The real question for me is should we be in the FHA business at all," the CEO says.

Ocwen Financial has repurchased approximately $72.3 million in stock from WL Ross & Co., a private-equity firm in New York.

PennyMac Mortgage Investment Trust has entered into a repurchase agreement with Bank of America to finance roughly $550 million in newly originated mortgage loans, though its subsidiary PennyMac Operating Partnership.

Mortgage-bond buyers, facing a supply shortage as their market shrinks and trading slows, get a chance tomorrow to bid for securities at the largest auction of its type since at least 2010.

The Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago is launching a pilot program soon to buy home loans and issue Ginnie Mae securities. The program could allow community banks and credit unions to stay in the mortgage business.

“Under the terms of this settlement, the bank has admitted to its misdeeds in great detail,” U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch priced an offering of bonds backed by the mortgage on the Intercontinental New York Times Square.

Radian Group and MGIC Investment Corp. are among mortgage insurers that would need to fill a financial gap under new financial-strength rules proposed by the Federal Housing Finance Agency.

Insurers would have two years to meet the tougher liquidity standards.

Reps. John Delaney, D-Md., John Carney, D-Del., and Jim Himes, D-Conn., introduced a new housing bill Thursday designed to provide an explicit government backstop for the market but still increase private sector participation.

Fortress Investment Group hired Adam Siegel, a former trader at Royal Bank of Scotland Group, to expand its mortgage business.

Citigroup may reach an agreement with federal prosecutors as early as next week to resolve a probe into sales of mortgage-backed bonds before the 2008 financial crisis.

Now that buyers and sellers have a sense of what it's like to operate in the new interest rate environment, the two sides are more likely to agree on price.

Redwood Trust is coming back to the market with its second residential mortgage-backed security of 2014, according to a presale report from Kroll Bond Ratings Agency.

Cerberus is is financing low-volume deals for small investors through its FirstKey Lending; Blackstone's B2R Finance LP. is making a similar push to mom-and-pop landlords.

Analysts are projecting Ginnie Mae could surpass Freddie Mac in outstanding MBS by next July.

New federal requirements for private mortgage insurers aim to standardize coverage across the market. That’s left some companies looking for ways to distinguish their products as they vie for lenders' business.

Ginnie Mae is paying particular attention to nonbank servicers due to the same concerns an inspector general has raised about servicing transfers involving Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loans.