Risk management

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have boosted risk-sharing transactions in the past year by more than fourfold, according to Fitch Ratings.

Fears that lower Federal Housing Administration premiums will negatively affect private mortgage insurance firms are overblown. If anything, the plan should be a modest positive for the overall housing market.

The U.S. Supreme Court gave homeowners more ability to cancel their mortgages if lenders don't provide the required disclosures, in a setback for the banking industry.

Ocwen Financial Corp., one of the biggest U.S. mortgage servicers, fell the most ever after a newspaper reported that California is seeking to suspend its license.

Standard & Poor's is close to a settlement of about $1 billion with the U.S. for allegedly misleading investors about its ratings of mortgage-backed securities before the subprime crisis.

Freddie Mac's first three risk-sharing transactions of 2015 are all insurance policies.

The U.S. Supreme Court dealt a blow to Royal Bank of Scotland Group and Nomura Holdings Inc., refusing to derail federal government lawsuits that seek billions of dollars over the sale of risky mortgage-backed securities.

With commercial real estate lenders continuing to slowly relax their underwriting standards, CMBS investors can't overlook the corresponding rise in risk.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. reached a preliminary settlement to pay $500 million to resolve a lawsuit over $17.6 billion of faulty mortgage-backed securities issued by Bear Stearns.

The Senate approved legislation to reauthorize the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act, sending it to President Obama's desk after a months-long battle.

Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro moved swiftly on Thursday to defend pending cuts to the Federal Housing Administration's premiums, rebutting GOP arguments they are premature.

Lenda, a new mortgage company backed by Silicon Valley investors, wants to supplant the traditional loan officer with consumer self-service technology.

The amount of commercial mortgage debt maturing is set to spike this year, when loans taken out during the height of the real estate bubble start coming due.

The residential and mortgage-backed securities market has seen "substantial improvements," according to Fitch Ratings.

With Republicans now controlling both chambers of Congress and signals from Democrats that they are open to alterations, revisions to Dodd-Frank are at the top of the agenda in addition to other subjects, like terrorism insurance and housing finance reform.

When reading a CBO report, be sure to read all the words, carefully.

SecurityNational Mortgage has reached a settlement with Bank of America to resolve a financial crisis-era dispute over the companies' loan purchase agreements.

As a result of certain court decisions, government agencies like the Federal Housing Administration have even more latitude in pursuing these claims against lenders.

Royal Bank of Scotland Group could pay a fine to settle claims of misconduct in its handling of U.S. mortgage securities as early as this quarter, a person with knowledge of the matter said.

SunTrust Banks will provision $145 million in its fourth quarter results for legal expenses related to previously disclosed mortgage issues, the company said in a regulatory filing Monday.