Servicing

The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision finalized its review of the Basel III standard for capital treatment for counterparty credit risk in bilateral trades and plans to modify the risk weighting of credit valuation adjustment (CVA), which is the risk of loss caused by changes in the credit spread of a counterparty due to changes in its credit quality.

Paragon published its half-year results for the year ended March 31 and said it plans to return to the securitization market again.

Figures released by the U.S. Treasury show that taxpayers collected a total of $12.9 billion in May from the investment and sales of the agency’s mortgage-backed securities (MBS) portfolio.

Ocwen Financial Corp., a top ranked specialty servicer, made it official over the weekend, agreeing to buy Litton Loan Servicing from Goldman Sachs for $264 million in cash, plus extras.

U.S. Bancorp Chief Executive Richard Davis should be happy that his company will escape having to pay a hefty fine for sloppy servicing practices, a fate that likely awaits the nation's top five mortgage servicers.

Mortgage bankers funded $351 billion of new residential loans in the first quarter, a 35% decline from a robust 4Q, but a slight gain from the year ago period, according to new figures compiled by National Mortgage News.

For the past few years there has been a constant barrage of negative news on loss mitigation. Neither borrowers, nor investors, nor servicers are happy with how the financial crisis has unfolded.

At the annual SourceMedia Mortgage Servicing Conference in Dallas, attendees concerned about the future of their industry discussed at length the pros and cons of recent regulatory changes and still pending rules and requirements they may have to abide with in the near future.

Relaxing regulatory parameters for "qualified residential mortgages" could significantly increase the percentage of loans that are exempt from risk retention, according to a new comment letter from Amherst Securities Group.

As part of its acquisition of the 16 Ohio branches of Liberty Savings Bank, First Financial Bancorp, Cincinnati, is buying a $143 million in-market performing loan portfolio. The portfolio is made up of 38% residential mortgages, 37% commercial real estate/multifamily loans and 20% home equity loans.