Law and regulation

We're hearing Hurricane Sandy is back in the news, with New York City unveiling an ambitious plan to beef up storm defenses and HUD announcing a design competition focusing on building more resilient structures.

House appropriators have voted to slash the budget of the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Fitch expects the data to be of interest as the agencies’ regulators have directed them to test nonagency risk-sharing transactions this year.

A credit union vice president joins those expecting the second half of 2013 to bring a slow but steady increase in mortgage rates.

Bank of America Corp. opened a unit in India to review home-valuation reports as it seeks to rebuild share in U.S. mortgages at a lower cost.

The Home Valuation Code of Conduct's spirit lives on with “Appraiser Independence Requirements” and amendments to the Truth in Lending Act.

A new plan introduced by a diverse group of housing experts defines several goals deemed essential to the future housing finance system, and terminating some government-sponsored entities is one of them.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. in May issued enforcement orders against eight banks and freed nine others from prior orders as part of a series of actions released Friday.

We're hearing the Corker-Warner GSE reform bill will really drive up the cost of plain-vanilla mortgages.

Rep. Mel Watt defended his judgment and experience with housing issues during a hearing on his nomination to head the Federal Housing Finance Agency.

As much as it is a challenge, today subservicing is an opportunity many small-size servicers are rushing to embrace in a marketplace where the role of specialty servicer is being redefined.

Higher regulatory risks that are forcing many U.S. banks to sell their subprime mortgage servicing rights are throwing these assets into the lap of specialty servicing nonbanks.

The Federal Reserve Board is slated to meet next Tuesday and approve the Basel III capital rules.

When Wolters Kluwer asked bankers recently which regulatory concerns keep them up at night, 46% said "regulatory reform"—referring to new rules stemming from the Dodd-Frank Act and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

It is advisable for entities proposing to use the rule to script out what a teller says to a customer to avoid crossing any lines that would render the person an originator.

The chief executive officer of Spurs Capital is quite passionate about the Home Affordable Modification Program.

The Guide covers amendments to the Rule made December 2012.when the FTC revised the Rule to adopt a narrower definition of “creditor.”

As the new GSE regulator, Rep. Mel Watt would support the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s initiative to create a single securitization platform.

New York will use up to $20 million in mortgage settlement funds to rebuild and restore neighborhoods that are still struggling with blight and large inventories of vacant properties.

Rep. Mel Watt will face lawmakers skeptical of his knowledge of housing-finance issues today when he appears at a Senate Banking Committee hearing on his nomination to oversee Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.