Banking

The Madison, Wis.-based credit union will donate $1.5 million to a pair of United Way chapters in the region which will help distribute the funds to organizations serving communities of color.

Acquiring AmeriHome would provide the fee revenue the Phoenix company seeks to compensate for low interest rates and tepid commercial loan demand. The deal also would allow it to reinvest billions of dollars of excess liquidity.

The operating environment is dramatically different than it was pre-pandemic and presents all-new challenges for financial institutions. Tried-and-true strategies that led to high performance for many years are no longer going to be successful. Join Bonnie McGeer, Executive Editor of American Banker, and Claude Hanley, Partner at Capital Performance Group, as they highlight important trends and comb through data from top-performing banks across the country for insights that will help regional and community financial institutions thrive in 2021. Executives will learn what metrics will be most critical to focus on to maintain high performance going forward.

Origination volume hit a record high in 2020 as more borrowers tapped the equity in their homes and investors and second-home purchasers flocked to the market at levels unseen since before the Great Recession.

While the Mortgage Bankers Association hailed the move, some experts say it could negatively impact housing inventory.

Like so many other businesses, Credit Karma was not spared by the pandemic and its rippling effects on the economy. Their business was prone to the same macro conditions, particularly the tightening of lending standards and credit limits. Join Paul Centopani, National Mortgage News' reporter and Andy Taylor, Credit Karma's General Manager of Home & Mortgage as they discuss how FinTechs can pivot to adapt to the new normal.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency's recent allowance of a 3-month extension of CARES Act forbearances stands to upend the trend in plan exits.

Gains in consumer financial stability helped to decrease the rates of distressed home loans, but job creation is needed to make recovery sustainable, a CoreLogic report found.

Home loans accounted for the bulk of the industry’s lending gains in 2020, but inventory shortages in some markets and an uneven economic recovery may dim prospects this year.

First Foundation is relocating its corporate headquarters to Dallas, where the tax burden is lighter and it sees more opportunity to beef up lending, add wealth management clients and pursue acquisitions of community banks.

Acting Director Dave Uejio wrote in a blog post that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau needs more time to consider rules that were finalized under the Trump administration but have not yet gone into effect.

Community banks say Vizaline’s software, which converts property descriptions into images, helps them catch errors before they close real estate loans without resorting to expensive land surveys. But traditional surveyors say the results are of questionable value.

However, the share of new impairments increased, likely as a result of the high concentration of these loans given to self-employed borrowers.

The California company acquired Civic Financial Services, which makes loans to residential real estate investors.

The CARES Act-related forbearances could be “lulling us into a false sense of security” as 12-month expirations approach, according to Black Knight.

The uptick marks only the third increase in consecutive weeks since reaching a peak in May, according to Black Knight.

The struggling movie-theater chain is among once-risky debt investments reaping big gains after day traders helped fuel the sudden stock surge.

Dave Uejio, acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, promised to protect veterans from predatory loans and to crack down on companies that improperly garnish stimulus checks or mistreat struggling borrowers.

The company is exploring a range of options to diversify its balance sheet, but new CEO Thomas Cangemi says the best plan of attack is to merge with or acquire another institution.

Black Knight’s product is designed to assist mortgage lenders in performing due diligence while also preventing heightened risk of foreclosure losses.