When in doubt bring in the experts. The Federal Home Loan Bank of Seattle has hired Black Rock Financialand a firm headed by former Comptroller of the Currency Eugene Ludwig to assist it in getting itsfinances and management practices in order. Working on the account for Black Rock is the Treasury Department'sformer Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac expert, Peter Fisher. Visit the National Mortgage News websitefor the full story...
Apparently, Freddie Mac has been quietly laying off some of its staff -- especially the army of consultantsit hired to help clean up its $5 billion accounting mess. But we understand it is firing five or six members ofits communications department which includes marketing...
Here come the refis -- yet again! As this weekend column went to press, the yield on the 10-year was at 4.17%.If you're an investor you know the first quarter has been horrible for stocks. (No wonder why speculators, I mean,investors, are buying second and third homes.) Meanwhile, reports of the past week suggested that the U.S. economyhas hit a "soft patch" which means the Fed will stop hiking interest rates, right? Don't bet onit...
Why did Willy Sutton rob banks? Because that's where the money is. Why do class-action attorneys likesuing mortgage banking firms? Because that's where the money is. And why is New York's top cop Eliot Spitzerinvestigating the lending practices of New York State lenders? Answer: money. (Plus headlines.) Press reports say HSBC and Citigroup are at the top of Mr. Spitzer's list. But who are thetop-ranked lenders in the New York metro area? According to NMN's Home Mortgage Disclosure Act database,it's Washington Mutual, J.P. Morgan Chase, Wells Fargo and Countrywide. To order thecomplete database contact:
@SourceMedia.com
Is ex-Fannie Mae chairman James A. Johnson ashamed to be associated with his former company? Judgingfrom the Target Corp.'s annual proxy statement and annual meeting notice, one might suspect that Mr. Johnsonis trying to distance himself from the troubled GSE. The Target proxy omits Mr. Johnson's tenure as chairman andCEO of the GSE -- a time when Fannie was both well respected and highly profitable. For the full story see LewSichelman's story in Monday's NMN. Don't subscribe to NMN? Call: (800) 221-1809...
Angelo Mozilo,chairman and CEO of Countrywide Financial, was the ninth-highest-paid CEO among the 500 largest American publiccompanies last year, according to a list compiled by Forbes.com. Forbescalculated Mr. Mozilo's 2004 compensation at $96.9 million, noting that he owned $40.5 million of company shares.Other mortgage-related CEOs among the top 100 in 2004 include RichardKovacevich of WellsFargo (12th with $53.1 million in compensation), Jerry Grundhofer of U.S. Bancorp (21st at $38.6 million)and WaMu's Kerry Killinger(83rd at $15.7 million)...
Former GE Mortgage chief Stuart McFarland has big plans for his new thrift, Assurance PartnersBank. He is moving the HQ from Indiana to Bethesda, Md., and plans to open a slew of offices in the growingsuburbs of Bethesda, Silver Spring and Frederick. By the way, he is looking for loan officers in those areas...
FROM THE 'LENDERS YOU MAY'VE NEVER HEARD OF' FILE: Silver State Mortgage of Nevada funded $418million of loans in the first quarter, a handsome 65% increase from the first quarter.
COMMERCIAL MORTGAGE NEWS: ARCS Commercial Mortgage of California is providing $7.2 million infinancing for the Indian Creek Apartments, a 140-unit property in Waxahachie, Texas. The loan was originated byARCS' Dallas office.
MORTGAGE PEOPLE: Goodbye lending, hello mortgage insurance. MI giant Radian Group has named S.A.Ibrahim its new chief executive officer, effective May 5. Mr. Ibrahim succeeds Frank Filipps, who isretiring. Mr. Ibrahim joins Radian from GreenPoint Mortgage, a top-ranked residential lender. ReplacingMr. Ibrahim as president and CEO at GreenPoint is StevenM. Abreu.First NLC Financial Services has named mortgage industry veterans Ed C. Waller seniorVP/managing director, Kevin Dains VP/national operations manager, and Robert F. Miller VP/nationalsales manager. All three will work at its new correspondent unit in Overland Park, Kan. WaMu has hired Bill Steinmetz to head its wholesaleproduction operations group. Mr. Steinmetz will oversee WaMu's national network of wholesale loan fulfillment centers.
BROKER PUBLICATIONS YOU NEED TO READ: NMN's Broker magazine and Origination News.
SURVEY REMINDER: Lenders and servicers don't forget tofill out our annual survey. Respondents will receive FREE our dailymortgage news briefing (which is called, of course, Daily Briefing) plus will be ranked in NMN, the Mortgage Industry Directory and other publications. To view thesurvey
DATA NOTICE: NMNhas just published its Annual Data Report, which provides rankings on the top 100 prime and subprime lenders and servicers -- plus channelbreakdowns -- and much more. Also available: NMN'snew Alternative Products Quarterly Data Report, whichhas rankings on the top interest-only, alt-A and jumbo lenders. For more info about these products, contact
@SourceMedia.com. Dee can also give you info about our "M&A Database." NMN is still offering research reportson " LOS Systems," " D2C Internet Lending"and " Retail Lending Over the Internet."For more info on those contact
@SourceMedia.com
