A regulatory scare from the Securities and Exchange Commission may end up being much less of a challenge for real estate investment trusts than the stiff competition they face from bank portfolios, according to experts at the ABS East conference sponsored by Information Management Network this week in Miami Beach, FL. In September, the SEC rattled the mortgage REIT sector – which has struggled to gain a foothold in the nonconforming mortgage market – by launching a formal fact-finding mission on maintaining the exemption REITs enjoy from the Investment Company Act. ...