Risk management

Data breaches have become scarily commonplace. But even small financial institutions can take action to thwart hackers and minimize losses.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac's experiments with selling credit risk to investors are a critical element of new plan to merge the two entities and move them out of conservatorship, but what form so-called credit risk transfers take could make a big difference.

Banc of California in Irvine has agreed to sell its wholly owned investment adviser subsidiary, The Palisades Group.

The number of misrepresentations in mortgage applications continued to decline in February, benefiting from lenders' increased spending on compliance, said First American Financial Corp.

Widows, divorcees and others who inherit or otherwise receive mortgaged property often have a hard time getting loans modified because there are too many hurdles to proving they own the property.

The government agency that guarantees securitizations of Federal Housing Administration-insured loans is experimenting with a pool type that consists only of modifications and reperforming loans.

Freddie Mac has obtained new insurance policies under its Agency Credit Insurance Structure program.

The Depository Trust & Clearing Corp. and Digital Asset Holdings are targeting the repurchase agreement market as the latest use case for a blockchain solution.

Bankers are fighting back against a plan that would allow Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to invest in low-income housing tax credits, arguing they are critical for meeting Community Reinvestment Act requirements.

Five policy heavy-hitters issued a proposal this week to merge Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac into a single government corporation as a way to move beyond the conservatorships of the two government-sponsored enterprises.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency appears poised finally to allow principal reductions, but it's been nearly a decade since the mortgage crisis and underwater borrowers are much fewer thanks to higher home values.

The agency may finally be reaching resolution on whether Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will allow principal reductions, two years into Director Mel Watt's tenure as agency director and nearly a decade after the mortgage bubble burst.

Fannie Mae is marketing its second offering of the year of Connecticut Avenue Securities transferring the credit risk on mortgages that it insures.

As a handful of new issuers enter the market and the implementation of a key regulation pave the way for subprime securitization's comeback, the volume of new loans that are actually available to the market remains a question.

W.J. Bradley Mortgage Capital shut its doors after it was stuck with nonagency loans with TILA/RESPA integrated disclosure issues that it couldn't sell.

The Federal Housing Administration revised its proposed lender certification requirements on Tuesday in an effort to provide more clarity and reassure lenders they won't be penalized for minor loan defects or mistakes.

Ginnie Mae needs more and better paid staff to keep up with growing risks on nonbank seller/servicers, the watchdog agency head said.

To hear some former examiners tell it, companies that are hostile during the exam process may get dinged more often than those that show respect and professionalism. Following are tips to ensure bankers do better on their next exam.

Home equity lenders are putting more loans on the books, thanks to increasing property values. But utilization rates are falling, not increasing, and older loans are paying off at a faster clip than lenders can replace them.

QRM clarified the rules of the road for securitizations. Now, participants in the MBS world seeking better margins are looking beyond the safe harbor — to the subprime space.