Finance

Newcastle Investment Corp. said it will be a partner in Nationstar’s plan to purchase $374 billion of servicing rights from Residential Capital Corp. by investing upwards of $300 million in the “excess” servicing strip on the deal.

Matt Zames, the head of capital markets for JPMorgan Chase's mortgage banking division, as well as co-head of global fixed income in its investment bank, has been named the new chief investment officer for the company.

TriLyn has formed an investment management platform focused on opportunities in high-yield commercial real estate debt.

A group of Wall Street banks and ratings agencies told a federal court in Miami that “greed” and the need to grow earnings was responsible for the 2009 demise of Eastern Financial Florida CU, the one-time $2.4 billion credit union, not alleged fraud on their part in the sale of $100 million of risky financial derivatives known as collateralized debt obligations.

But what does the eventual resolution of ResCap really mean? Answer: A new, stronger competitor (Nationstar) could rise from the ashes. (If Dan Mudd was still at Fortress -- which owns a piece of Nationstar -- he might be considered the “Comeback Kid.”)

Assured Guaranty Ltd. posted a small profit for the first quarter of 2012 and last week announced a deal with Deutsche Bank over soured mortgage backed securities.

Congress is not likely to pass recently proposed legislation that would reform the Home Affordable Refinance Program and promote competition among mortgage servicers, according to analysts at the Royal Bank of Scotland.

The California Association of Realtors and the California District Attorneys Association have launched a campaign to warn homeowners about the alarming increase in scams targeting foreclosure victims.

Although Nationstar has agreed to buy most of Residential Capital Corp.’s mortgage assets, the sale is by no means a done deal, according to ResCap CEO Tom Marano.

It’s not easy being a GSE, executives speaking as the Mortgage Bankers Association’s National Secondary Market Conference in New York made clear last week.

The government controlled Ally Financial Monday morning said its board has voted to place Residential Capital LLC into Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection while it finalizes a deal to sell substantially all of its assets to Nationstar Mortgage for $4 billion. In total, 50 ResCap affiliates are affected by the filing.

Is the mortgage industry in the throes of what might turn out to be a lengthy and profitable recovery? Let’s look at the signs: Fannie Mae just posted a hefty profit, Freddie Mac has earned money on an operating basis for at least two quarters in a row, many lenders are enjoying strong profit margins and the HARP program appears to be humming along. Optimists might have reason to pop some champagne.

Wells Fargo plans to give its underwriters more control in approving mortgages that it retains in its own portfolio, as the bank tries to add high-quality assets to its balance sheet.

House Republicans are wading back into the debate over whether to allow principal reductions on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac mortgages.

The discussion in a number of panel sessions at the Mortgage Bankers Association National Secondary Market Conference in New York on May 6 through 9, was if, let alone when, private capital would return to the industry. In the exhibit hall, much of the vendor focus was on technology and compliance which would ease that transition. Nary a wholesaler or correspondent aggregator was exhibiting.

Residential lenders issued $36.4 billion of Government National Mortgage Association MBS in April, a 25% spike from the prior month, according to new figures released by the agency.

If the amendment were to become law, it would impact the posture of the Justice Department in any future negotiations with smaller mortgage servicers that did not participate in the recent settlement with the five largest servicers.

Freddie Mac's new chief executive, Donald Layton, urged critics to keep an open mind about the troubled government-sponsored enterprise and pledged to focus on "the nuts and bolts" to improve efficiency.

Lenders and investors at this week’s secondary market conference in New York were interested in a question that’s been on target for at least the past three years: Where is the nonconforming secondary market? When will it show up again? When should mortgage packagers start their engines?

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York has sold the entirety of the TRIAXX CDO holdings from its Maiden Lane III portfolio to Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith after a competitive bid process.