Servicing

Single-family existing home sales jumped by almost 12% in December after rising 6.7% in November to end the year with a "strong finish," according to new figures released by the National Association of Realtors.

The nation's premier mortgage trade group believes the current servicing compensation regime doesn't work anymore and is exploring different options on behalf of the industry.

The advent of Basel III and its effects on MSRs, the difficulty of hedging mortgage servicing rights, and the strain of making advances to investors are all driving the regulatory search for a new way to compensate servicers.

What has largely been an inability to jumpstart new securitization outside of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac has been a big source of frustration for the financial services industry, a Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association official told attendees at the group’s meeting Tuesday.

Minneapolis-based U.S. Bancorp had nearly $20 billion in mortgage loan production during the fourth quarter, which led to an almost 15% increase in mortgage banking revenue over the same period in 2009.

MetLife Bank has hired former Bear Stearns and Ohio Savings executive Jess Lederman as a top executive in its residential correspondent lending division, according to mortgage officials who received a notification from the industry veteran.

First South Bancorp Inc., Washington, N.C. reported $6.5 million in net operating losses for the fourth quarter of 2010, mainly due to foreclosure related asset quality deterioration.

MGIC Investment Corp., Milwaukee, posted a loss of $187 million for the fourth quarter, an improvement over the $280 million loss for the same period in 2009, but worse than the $52 million in the third quarter of 2010. Company executives had previously warned the fourth quarter would see a higher loss than the third, however these losses are even higher than what analysts had expected.

Wells Fargo & Co. in the fourth quarter solidified its position as the nation's largest funder of home mortgages, originating $128 billion of loans during the period, its best showing since the second quarter of 2009.

The Federal Housing Administration has completed its reviews of the largest FHA servicing shops and is now processing notices of violations of its loss mitigation and foreclosure standards.