Private-equity firms are starting to sniff around the mortgage business, investment banking sources told us recently. We understand that nonpublic investors are not only looking at subprime lenders, but vendors as well. Early last week The Carlyle Group and its partners took private Open Solutions, a financial services technology firm that is in the loan origination software space...
So, what's with Housing secretary Alphonso Jackson and HUD contractor Abt Associates? Apparently, the HUD secretary has a grudge against the firm. And according to a IG report obtained by National Mortgage News via the Freedom of Information Act, Abt is the firm hired by HUD to analyze Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac's automated underwriting systems to see if they discriminate against minorities. The Abt study has never seen the light of day. At one time HUD kept the report in a secure room to keep proprietary information in it safe. For the full story see Brian Collin's article in Monday's NMN. Don't subscribe? Call: (800) 221-1809...
Countrywide Financial now employs 3,000 workers in Mumbai, India, company chairman and CEO Angelo Mozilo said in a recent interview with NMN. Mr. Mozilo also said he thinks the GSEs will not regain the market dominance they once had. For the full story, see NMN...
British bank Barclays PLC is getting more serious about its MBS business. It has hired away Nomura's mortgage research chief Art Frank as its top mortgage strategist. With the hire, Barclay's research team now boasts six full-timers...
You know loan volumes must be slow when lenders start doing stuff like this: Ditech.com said it is offering homeowners the opportunity to win a year's worth of mortgage payments (up to $25,000) in its 2006 ditech.com "Home Mortgage Sweepstakes." Ditech.com is part of the GMAC Mortgage family of companies...
On Wednesday morning Fannie Mae was the most actively traded stock on the NYSE. By noon it had slipped to No. 6. There was no news that explained the heavy volume...
This weekend conventioneers start arriving in Chicago for the annual convention of the Mortgage Bankers Association. Many a mortgage firm will be making announcements and showing their wares. Among them is Jeff Lebowitz's Mortech. The research firm -- once headquartered in Silver Spring, Md., but having since relocated to Connecticut -- has just released its annual report on industry trends. Mortech found that while mortgage lenders are seeing thin margins ahead, they are nevertheless spending 8% more on technology than they did last year. By the way, if you can't make it to the MBA show, Silver Spring is hosting a small science fiction convention. NMN correspondent Georgiana Lee will at the convention -- the sci-fi one, that is...
Friedman Billings Ramsey on Washington Mutual's third-quarter numbers: "Earnings were clearly a disappointment. However, our primary concern is the fact that the expected margin expansion did not materialize while net charge-offs moved higher." However, Jim Cramer, who hosts the wild and wacky "Mad Money" show on CNBC, said recently that if WaMu's shares take a dip, investors should buy them, noting, "We are in a golden era for financials"...
Foreign purchases of U.S. securities reached an all-time high of $116.8 billion in August, according to the Treasury Department. That would include MBS and ABS...
NO LONGER WITH US: CBGB's the seminal New York club and bar that birthed the punk movement and never looked back. When I lived right outside the city in my youth I caught a few shows there, including the Ramones, Human Switchboard and bands whose names I can't recall. It's all a blur and now it's over. As Frank Sinatra once sang, "That's Life."
MORTGAGE PEOPLE: Regina Lowrie, the departing chairman of the MBA, has joined The Prieston Group as a consultant and principal. This past summer she sold her stake in Diversified Mortgage, a company she founded in 1994. RBC Capital Markets has named Matthew Mahone vice president for Southwest originations for its real estate mortgage capital division. He will be responsible for originating and analyzing commercial mortgage-backed securities. Former Acoustic Home Loans chief Frank J. Curry has joined Success Capital LLC, Tustin, Calif.
DATA NEWS: NMN has just released its annual Home Mortgage Disclosure Act database of every lender in the U.S. The database has detailed production information on more than 8,000 funders, including high-cost loan volume, loans sold to Fannie and Freddie, and much more. For pricing plans, e-mail
