Banking

Banks have added so much capital in the past several years that they're better protected from declines in real estate values than they were before the financial crisis.

Shares of real estate investment trusts fell the most since August after an upbeat reading on U.S. jobs increased the odds the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates this year.

WASHINGTON — The House passed a massive $340 billion transportation bill on Thursday, striking two key provisions hated by the banking industry while adding several other measures that could affect financial institutions.

New rules proposed by international banking regulators would severely reduce, and possibly eliminate, banks' profitability in trading bonds that finance everything from home loans and apartment mortgages to auto loans and student debt, according to JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Greystone has secured $88.6 million in financing to rehabilitate 20 multifamily properties for low-income residents in Tennessee.

Loan demand and conditions remained largely unchanged in the third quarter, with some easing of credit standards for consumer and auto loans, according to a survey of senior loan officers conducted by the Federal Reserve.

Accurately capturing mortgage data to meet new federal regulators is a top challenge for banks and credit unions, according to Wolters Kluwer Financial Services.

The Mortgage Bankers Association said Thursday that it expects commercial and multifamily mortgage originations will increase year-over-year in 2016 by 6% to $485 billion.

Arch MI U.S. did $3.2 billion in new insurance written, approximately 60% more than the nearly $2 billion done in the same quarter in 2014.

BOK Financial reported a small drop in third-quarter profit, as a decline in the value of mortgage servicing rights offset loan and fee income growth.

New York Community Bancorp has agreed to buy Astoria Financial for about $2 billion in cash and stock, combining two of the largest New York-area banks to create an institution with about $64 billion in total assets.

Executives at small banks and credit unions told the Senate Banking Committee about horror stories of technical glitches, vendor delays and overworked appraisers, while expressing an interest in having more time to comply with new mortgage rules.

Nobody thought it would be pretty, but last quarter's results were even worse than expected, and low fee revenue is largely to blame. Trading and mortgage banking were particularly bad, and few of the big banks managed to offset the declines.

Flagstar Bancorp reported a third-quarter profit, as it originated more residential mortgages and recorded higher fee income.

Quicken Loans CEO Bill Emerson's term as chairman of the MBA underscores how the consumer-direct mortgage channel has grown from a quirky novelty to the force leading a technology revolution.

Consumer demand for apartments continued to rise in the third quarter, according to the National Multifamily Housing Council.

Astoria Financial, a New York City-area thrift under pressure from activist investor Basswood Capital Management to boost the share price, is exploring a sale, according to people familiar with the matter. The stock climbed as much as 6.2%.

NCUA said it has entered into an agreement under which investment bank Barclay's Capital will pay $325 million to resolve claims arising from losses related to the purchase of faulty residential mortgage-backed securities by corporate credit unions.

Should credit unions step into a giant breach gradually being vacated by the big banks, or is the bank pull-out a sign that CUs should do the same?

Average fixed mortgage rates perked up the week ending Oct. 15, but remained under the 4% level for the 12th consecutive week.