Origination

Harvard University’s Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation has included several housing initiatives in honoring 25 innovative government-related programs.

A large number of mortgage fraud cases involving allegations of kickbacks, straw buyers or both.

Lloyds Banking Group plans to auction about $8.7 billion of U.S. mortgage securities without government backing that were issued before the credit crisis.

The rising tide also include competitors CoreLogic and Ellie Mae.

Fidelity National Financial dominates mortgage underwriting. Its former LPS unit is the top mortgage servicer. The question is whether by reuniting two companies that have run out of room to grow separately can prosper together.

Nationstar Mortgage is financing nearly 60% of KB Home’s new orders.

JPMorgan has another prime jumbo mortgage-backed securities deal in the pipeline, according to three companies’ presale ratings reports.

One poster says that brokers should expect wholesalers to trim the number of originators they have approved.

Ellington Management Group is looking to get into the loan production business and towards that end it has hired former GMAC Mortgage executive Steven Abreu as head of mortgage originations.

Lender Processing Services has had a turbulent couple of years since the beginning of the robo-signing scandal from 2010 to the present day that included lawsuits, a consent order and several settlements of charges. The robo-signing allegations involved an LPS unit that allegedly created bogus mortgage assignments so that foreclosures may be processed more quickly and efficiently.