State regulators

Mortgage-related companies finalized four partnerships, a servicing-retention firm went up for sale, and a long-delayed insurance-related transaction moved forward this week in a wave of industry merger and acquisition activity.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency is considering bringing back the idea of imposing stricter criteria for purchasing mortgages in areas where residential Property Assessed Clean Energy financing is available.

In another sign of state officials trying to outdo the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, governors in California and New York want greater authority to license and oversee the debt collection industry.

Former CFPB Director Richard Cordray and consumer advocates have designed a proposed state consumer agency that would subject more financial firms and fintechs to state oversight.

Vision Property Management has settled accusations made by New York regulators of predatory lending practices for a total of $3.75 million in cash and forgiven mortgage loan balances.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom plans to ask the legislature to revamp the current Department of Business Oversight and rename it the Department of Financial Protection and Innovation, modeled after the federal CFPB.

A Conference of State Bank Supervisors subsidiary settled a lawsuit with defendants who allegedly misused and reproduced copyrighted questions from a national exam mortgage loan officers take to obtain licenses.

The Department of Banking and Insurance in New Jersey is warning that enforcement of a 2019 residential mortgage servicer licensing law will begin in 2020.

A trade group is looking into why New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo felt foreclosure risks were too high to sign a bill that would have approved reverse mortgages for cooperative properties.

A judge dismissed New York's mortgage-fraud case against former Trump campaign chief Paul Manafort, undermining the state's effort to ensure that the jailed political adviser doesn't go free if he’s eventually pardoned for his federal crimes.

1st Alliance Lending is officially closing, but its CEO still plans to fight Connecticut's allegations that it used unlicensed personnel to take mortgage loan applications.

A proposal by a single utility threatens to upend California’s sweeping mandate requiring solar panels on almost every new home.

The San Francisco fintech company has agreed to pay a $110,000 fine for failing to comply with a 2017 state law that requires mortgage servicers to be licensed.

A federal judge granted in part and denied in part Ocwen Financial's motion to dismiss Florida regulators' case against the company, the last remaining of 30 state lawsuits filed in 2017.

New plans for a ballot initiative in November 2020 threaten to overturn concessions that financial institutions, tech firms and other companies have won from state lawmakers.

A mortgage company's dispute with Connecticut over what tasks a licensed loan officer needs to handle points to a potential compliance concern for direct and digital lenders seeking to maximize efficiencies.

Deutsche Bank is cooperating with the Justice Department's antitrust investigation into whether several of the largest global banks conspired to rig trading in unsecured bonds issued by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Stewart Information Services has decided to make some big changes at the top following the dissolution of a planned merger with Fidelity National Financial.

The bureau issued three policies removing the threat of legal liability for approved companies that test new products.

The Federal Trade Commission wants to block the merger of Fidelity National Financial and Stewart Information Services stating the deal would reduce competition for title insurance, including for large commercial real estate transactions.