Secondary

The new tax law helped boost fourth-quarter results at SunTrust Banks in Atlanta, while the recent rate hikes led to gains in spread income.

Senate negotiators are working on a bill that would place Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac into receivership and replace them with multiple mortgage guarantors, according to sources.

Craig Phillips, a top aide to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, said his department "broadly" agrees with the FHFA plan, which would return Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to the private market and provide them an explicit government guarantee.

The Arkansas company has spent two years trying to reassure nervous investors and analysts that it can rapidly book real estate loans using conservative practices.

Radian Group has improved the capital cushion at its mortgage insurance subsidiary through enhanced reinsurance arrangements and providing cash and marketable securities.

Loan defaults associated with the three late summer hurricanes could have a more immediate effect on MGIC Investment Corp.'s secondary market capital cushion than proposed changes by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

A group of big financial institutions wants to use the blockchain to make it easier and less costly to track home mortgages packaged into securities.

FHFA Director Mel Watt said Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac should be reincorporated as private entities and the government must provide an explicit guarantee for catastrophic losses in the secondary mortgage market.

Bank of America's mortgage banking business reported a loss for the fourth quarter driven largely by representations and warrants provisions.

The company, which bought BNC Bancorp to enter North Carolina last year, recorded $19.1 million in merger-related expenses and an $8.3 million pretax loss tied to investment securities.