Servicing

A court-appointed judicial hearing officer who previously had said e-mails sent between New York Insurance Department officials showed bias regarding the restructuring of bond insurer MBIA Insurance Corp. last week reversed his decision.

A new avenue of attack may be opening up for investors seeking to force big banks to buy back billions of dollars in mortgages: drag the trustees into the fight.

The $200 million civil settlement with Regions Financial Corp.'s brokerage unit last week was the sort of case that the Securities and Exchange Commission and state regulators believe should guide industry behavior.

Bloodcurdling numbers of distressed residential mortgage assets are bad enough. But nonperforming commercial mortgages have also ballooned out, to more than $200 billion of a niche that is only one-third the size of residential.

Mortgage and real estate industry-related firms will be active in the annual reconstitution of the Russell Investments equity indexes, taking place after the close of markets Friday.

Home remodeling contractors' survey finds recent federal regulation is causing "a significant increase in the cost" of remodeling projects nationwide.

Barclays Capital has appointed Larry Kravetz and Spencer Kagan to its CMBS sector to expand its CMBS origination business.

In May, the delinquency rate on U.S. CMBS loans fell four basis points to 9.18%.

No one could have predicted the speed of recovery in the commercial real estate space, said panelists speaking at the American Securitization Forum’s 2011 annual meeting.

A mayoral candidate in Tucson, Az., is taking the housing crisis into his own hands, seizing foreclosed homes owned by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in an effort to help homeowners get their property back.