Secondary

Executives at BB&T, KeyCorp and Citizens are milking commercial lending niches and balancing cost control with new investments while waiting for more rate hikes to fatten margins.

Royal Bank of Canada is the latest Canadian firm to explore a sale of bonds backed by uninsured residential mortgages.

The Mortgage Bankers Association released a detailed transition plan Thursday designed to help policymakers turn the government-sponsored enterprises into private guarantors of mortgage-backed securities.

Stewart Information Services Corp. posted net income in the first quarter of $4.1 million, a turnaround from the $11.2 million loss one year ago.

MGIC Investment Corp. had net income of $89.8 million for the first quarter, an increase of nearly 30% over the same period last year of $69.2 million.

Earnings per share fell a nickel short of estimates due in part to lower-than-expected revenue from the origination and sale of mortgages.

Incenter Mortgage Advisors is accepting bids on behalf of an independent mortgage banker for a $326 million portfolio of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae mortgage servicing rights.

Texas Capital Bancshares sharply reduced the size of its loan-loss provision as credit quality improved in its energy loan book. That helped the Dallas bank post a 77% rise in first-quarter profit.

The Mississippi company's first-quarter earnings rose 60% from a year earlier. Its results from last year were weighed down by a settlement with regulators.

Mortgage bankers' first-quarter earnings should be down from the fourth quarter in tandem with the reduction in origination volume.