Securitization

Standard & Poor's tab is $1.4 billion — including $52.5 million for Illinois — to resolve long-standing allegations by federal and state authorities that the firm misled investors in the run-up to 2008's financial collapse.

The outcome of Bruce Berkowitz's tussle with the U.S. government over the profits from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac may depend on two women: federal claims court Judge Margaret Sweeney and Sen. Elizabeth Warren.

JPMorgan plans to add $940 million to the growing pipeline of residential mortgage-backed securities.

WinWater Home Mortgage is preparing another plain-vanilla private-label residential mortgage securitization.

While many of the lenders and investment firms seeking to profit from higher-risk mortgages are working to revive the business of bundling such loans into bonds, Citadel, one of the biggest players, is in no rush to see that happen.

Standard & Poor's $1.5 billion settlement with the U.S. Justice Department, more than a dozen states and the biggest U.S. pension fund today will let the world's biggest rating company move beyond a bruising legal battle, at a steep cost.

Government-backed U.S. mortgage bonds posted their worst monthly returns relative to Treasuries since the 2008 financial crisis as the $5.5 trillion market braces for a surge in homeowner refinancing.

JPMorgan and Barclays plan to securitize 44 commercial mortgage loans that total $836.5 million. The loans are secured by 91 properties.

The Internal Revenue Service recently closed two audits of bonds issued in Colorado with no change to the bonds' tax-exempt statuses.

Freddie Mac priced its first Structured Agency Credit Risk transaction of the year. The Series 2015-DN1 was upsized to $880 million from $775 million originally.

Regulatory attention is supposed to be laser-focused on servicers right now, especially when it comes to how consistent they are in applying workouts. So regulators should be looking closely at whether loans have forbearance.

Joining the hunt for higher-yielding niche loans, the asset management unit of NewOak Capital has quietly launched a private fund to acquire nonqualified residential mortgages.

Societe Generale is entering the U.S. commercial mortgage-backed securities market and has hired a team of more than 10 people from Royal Bank of Scotland Group for the effort.

Arch Capital Group is repurposing a subsidiary to insure mortgages that are headed for private securitizations. Insuring such loans separately from the unit that works with Fannie and Freddie lets Arch offer more favorable terms to lenders.

The business of bundling riskier U.S. mortgages into bonds without government backing is gearing up for a comeback. Just don't call it subprime.

With conservatorship of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac well into its seventh year, the government has now had control of the housing agencies longer than 47 members of the Senate have been office.

Progress Residential priced its second securitization of single-family rental properties.

Ocwen Financial Corp., one of the biggest U.S. mortgage servicers, rejected as "groundless" accusations by an investor group that the company’s practices created defaults on home-loan bonds backed by debt it oversees.

BlueMountain Capital Management is claiming that "misconduct" by Ocwen Financial Corp. triggered a default in securities issued by an affiliate of the mortgage servicer.

This isn't the kind of non-qualified mortgage securitization that investors have been clamoring for.