Originations

CUNA Mutual Group assured credit unions Monday that its CMG Mortgage Insurance joint venture remains financially viable and can pay claims despite the financial troubles of its joint venture partner, PMI Group, San Francisco.

Ocwen Financial Corp., late Monday disclosed that it will buy Saxon Mortgage for almost $60 million in cash, a deal that will push its subprime servicing-related contracts to almost $110 billion.

Housing starts rose 10% in California in September, but all of the gain -- and then some -- was registered in the multifamily sector.

Barclays Capital has made several appointments to its U.S. CMBS team.

Rising foreign investment flows into U.S. commercial real estate bode well for the CMBS sector, said Standard & Poor's.

A leading credit union executive told the Senate Banking Committee this morning that ongoing proposals to wind down Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and privatize the secondary mortgage market would harm credit unions and other community lenders to the detriment of millions of homebuyers.

Reinstating trust in the ratings process is key to growing investor interest, according to buyside participants in a panel at an asset-backed securities conference in Miami last week.

Although the nation's largest mortgage insurer, MGIC, continues to lose money, FBR Capital Markets Monday issued a report calling the firm a "buy," saying it is "relatively better positioned" than its peers.

Correspondent and mortgage broker loan product notably contributed to the recent prepayment surge in lower coupon securitizations, this time with a loan compensation rule-related twist, according to a Barclays Capital report.

An index report Monday showed U.S. commercial real estate prices overall rose for the fourth month in a row.

The need to improve customer interactions involving third-party originators selling their loans to investors has been a driver of so-called electronic collaborative document management technology, according to Sanjeev Malaney, CEO of Capsilon.

I love technology. Can you imagine not having your computer, your smartphone, or not checking your Facebook every minute? I can't and I won't. Technology makes life better, more informed and connected. It's a tool to create a connection, and, in my opinion, not the end-all solution to true client service, especially in the most important transaction in most people's life.

In the first quarter, the market share for brokers (and therefore wholesalers) fell to an all-time low of 6.8% of industrywide production compared to 20% three years ago. But in the second quarter the broker share jumped more than a full point to 7.9%, according to new figures compiled by this newspaper and its data affiliate. Is this is aberration, or are brokers still toast?

The bedrock of the U.S. mortgage market - the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage - may no longer have the same level of bipartisan support in Congress that it once did.

With appraisers now generating valuation reports in the new data and format standards set by the government-sponsored enterprises, lenders are adopting new procedures and practices ahead of full implementation of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac's Uniform Mortgage Data Program.

Bank of America Corp. reshuffled top retail bank executives yet again this week, according to an internal memo obtained by American Banker.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency Monday morning unveiled long awaited changes to a White House refinancing program, waiving the LTV cap and certain origination fees on underwater Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loans.

Arizona regulators this week seized control of the troubled mortgage insurance division of PMI Group, Walnut Creek, Calif., according to a notice posted on the company's website.

Calling his first meeting with GSE regulator Edward DeMarco "disappointing," the chairman of a House task force on housing stabilization wants more answers from the regulator - plus he wants to see the agency's national refinancing plan before it's announced publicly.

The credit quality of commercial mortgage-backed securities loans appears to be slipping a bit, according to a Moody's Investors Service report Friday.