Secondary

Ocwen Financial Corp. will pay $2 million to settle charges that it misstated its financial results in valuing complex mortgage assets, said the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Redwood Trust in Mill Valley, Calif., plans to stop buying mortgage loans to resell to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as it looks to cut costs.

Mortgage applications leapt 9% on a seasonally adjusted basis for the week ending Jan. 15 compared to one week earlier, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc.'s fourth-quarter net income dropped 65% because of the costs to settle a mortgage probe.

Societe Generale SA is pulling back from the U.S. mortgage bond business just two years after building out the unit, according to two people with knowledge of the matter.

Credit Plus in Salisbury, Md., has introduced loan repurchase insurance for mortgage lenders and servicers that use its verification products.

Activist investor Carl Icahn, who's pushing American International Group Inc. Chief Executive Officer Peter Hancock to shrink the insurer and boost returns, said the CEO must offer "a drastic strategic shift" at a presentation scheduled for next week. Icahn's plan includes splitting AIG into three units, one being United Guaranty Corp., a private mortgage insurer.

Agency and government loan programs will be a little different in the next 12 months. There also will be new rules for private-label securitizations, along with new products available to investors. Here is an overview.

Mortgage real estate investment trusts will be hurt modestly in the long run, now that they have been excluded from membership in the Federal Home Loan Bank System, according to Fitch Ratings.

Goldman Sachs said it agreed to settle a U.S. probe into its handling of mortgage-backed securities for about $5.1 billion, cutting its fourth-quarter profit by about $1.5 billion.