State regulators

HSBC North America Holdings has agreed to pay $470 million to settle allegations it engaged in abusive practices in its mortgage foreclosure, origination and servicing operations.

While marketing services agreements dominated the conversation around compliance in the latter half of 2015, loan officer compensation will be under more scrutiny during 2016.

There are no easy fixes to Nationstar's myriad problems — including a plunging stock price and increased regulatory scrutiny — but Chief Executive Jay Bray says the turnaround starts with a commitment to improving customer service.

Prospect Mortgage, a Sherman Oaks, Calif., nonbank lender, has agreed to pay $10.1 million in borrower restitution and penalties for violating federal and state laws, California's Department of Business Oversight said Thursday.

The government's aggressive (and unsuccessful) prosecution of tiny Abacus Federal Savings Bank stands as one of the oddest episodes of post-crisis era.

The acting head of New York’s Department of Financial Services will step down before the end of the year, giving New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo a run at reshaping a regulator that has levied billions of dollars of penalties against international banks and at times raised hackles in foreign capitals.

Mortgage servicer Ocwen Financial failed four servicing tests in the second half of 2014. Joseph A. Smith Jr., the monitor of the $25 billion national mortgage settlement, said the Atlanta servicer was “beginning to show progress” in complying with terms of the 2012 agreement.

David H. Stevens, the Mortgage Bankers Association's president, pledged to "shine an aggressive spotlight on abusive enforcement" at the trade group's annual gathering, specifically calling out the Department of Justice.

The clash between the Department of Housing and Urban Development and its inspector general over down payment assistance programs run by state or local housing finance agencies continues to heat up.

JPMorgan Chase has paid off $3.56 billion of the $4 billion it owes in consumer relief credit as part of a 2013 settlement over marred mortgage-backed securities issued before the crisis.

California lawmakers passed legislation to change the way communities wind down their shuttered redevelopment agencies, leaving cities and their advocates trying to tally the effects of the last-minute bill.

Evans Bancorp in Hamburg, N.Y., has agreed to pay $825,000 to settle a lawsuit that accused the company of mortgage redlining.

The only thing more ominous than a CFPB investigation is when the FDIC and OCC join in on the action.

Ocwen Financial's internal review group is "independent," and the Atlanta servicer is in compliance with the national mortgage settlement, settlement monitor Joseph A. Smith said Tuesday.

A New York law that was invalidated by a federal judge was one of many efforts by big cities to pressure banks into making more investments in local communities after the crisis. Some municipal laws could be more vulnerable to bankers' legal challenges than others.

A federal judge has overturned a New York City law that would have required banks to make new disclosures regarding their investments in local communities.

Bank of America has received approval for additional credit during the first quarter of 2015 from the independent monitor overseeing its compliance with the requirements of its mortgage settlement agreement.

The Federal Housing Administration is expected to rebuff a government watchdog report that blasted down payment assistance programs. The report has raised concerns that mortgage lenders would have to indemnify FHA for past loans, and that housing finance agencies would have the programs restructured.

The Conference of State Bank Supervisors recently challenged college students to examine how community banks survived the financial crisis, and the contest highlighted innovative strategies used by Main Street banks such as Bank of American Fork in Utah.

For servicers seeking to differentiate themselves with mortgage investors, the ability to quickly resolve a delinquent loan has taken a backseat to demonstrating a strict adherence to the swath of new compliance requirements that have transformed the industry.