Secondary

The news that the Federal Housing Administration is going to rev up its pilot distressed asset sale program is just another indication that this market is ready to boom.

Recently announced prepayments pending on certain Freddie Mac securities stem from what the lender involved said is a resolved technical error that caused a buyback of $330 million in mostly current loans.

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority on Tuesday fined Citigroup Global Markets Inc. $3.5 million in a settlement related to charges of nonconforming residential mortgage-backed securities violations that Citi neither admitted to nor denied.

Citigroup, a somewhat frequent seller of nonperforming loans, is in the market with a $99 million package of troubled residential mortgages, according to investors that have looked at the package.

Mortgage originations will fall to their lowest level in five years in 2012, according to the latest forecast by the Mortgage Bankers Association.

Bank of America is in the market with a $2 billion package of mortgage servicing rights tied to loans that reside in private-label securitizations, according to bidders and investors briefed on the package.

Old Republic International Corp. has taken the next step in separating out its private mortgage insurance and consumer credit indemnity insurance units by selling 20.6% of Republic Financial Indemnity Group to an investor group headed by ORI president Christopher Nard.

Political races bring on all sorts of silly comparisons so why not take a stab at asking this: who would produce a more profitable mortgage banking company: President Obama or Mitt Romney?

Richard Fisher, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, is not shy about the fact he's a former banker. That's why it's all the more surprising that he's one of the leading advocates for dramatically reducing the size of the largest banks—arguing that failing to do so will jeopardize the health and stability of the financial system.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, by its mere name proclaims its sole purpose is to protect the consumer’s interest in financial matters. But what happens when the rules and regulations designed to benefit the borrower actually harm the borrower?