Washington Mutual and its former officers, directors, underwriters and auditor late last week agreed to a $208.5 million settlement on one of the largest class-action lawsuits stemming from the financial crisis, according to court documents. In exchange, the plaintiffs would dismiss all claims against the defendants. The lead plaintiff and lead counsel said that this proposed settlement represents “an excellent result and are in the best interests of the class,” according to court documents. The case was consolidated from about 20 plaintiffs who claimed the bank quietly reduced lending standards to inflate home-price appraisals and was not open with customers when loans began to fail

In a first-of-its-kind legal action that could inspire numerous local copycat complaints, two Michigan counties are taking Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to court in separate lawsuits claiming the two GSEs have systematically dodged paying county and state property transfer taxes for years.Last month, Oakland County, which contains the state capital Lansing, filed suit against the GSEs in federal court. Two days later, officials in Ingham County, a Detroit suburb, filed suit in state court.

The dramatic slowdown in mortgage lending activity during the second quarter of 2011 led to significant declines in virtually all states, according to a new analysis of agency securitization data by Inside Mortgage Trends. Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae securitized a total of $565.5 billion of single-family mortgages during the first six months of 2011, but much of that activity was front-loaded in the first quarter. Agency mortgage-backed securities production declined 33.7 percent from the ... [includes one data chart]

Months after public commenters noted their opposition to proposed changes to the membership criteria of the 12 Federal Home Loan Banks, the Banks’ regulator, the Federal Housing Finance Agency, is still weighing its options going forward.At the end of December 2010, the FHFA released an advanced notice of public rulemaking indicating it was reviewing its regulations governing Bank membership to ensure there’s enough of a connection between Bank membership and the mission of the FHLBanks.

The mortgage servicing sector is warily eyeing new servicing standards cooked up by the government-sponsored enterprises at the behest of their regulator that strictly mandate the servicers’ delinquency management requirements. Some lenders dread an implementation predicament while others see opportunity. In late April, the Federal Housing Finance Agency announced its Servicing Alignment Initiative that requires Fannie and Freddie to devise uniform rules for servicing delinquent mortgages they own or ...

Bank of America said it will spend $400 million just to implement the servicing changes it agreed to in a controversial proposed settlement with a group of investors in non-agency mortgage-backed securities issued by Countrywide Financial. The proposed settlement itself would cost the bank $8.5 billion, and BofA set aside another $5.5 billion to cover other possible buyback demands. Reckoning the cost of upgrading servicing systems has been a common theme in an industry that faces even bigger expenses from punitive charges. Ally Financial this week said it will cost the company ...

The Federal Home Loan Bank of Pittsburgh recently appointed Kristina Williams its new chief operating officer. Williams assumes the position in addition to her role as chief financial officer.

Financial institutions could save up to an estimated $1 billion a year if a proposal on global identification codes in the financial supply chain is implemented, according to a non-profit specializing in barcode technology. Infrastructure costs could be eliminated through an automated system, said Allan Grody, founder of Financial InterGroup. All financial information originates with physical documents, he said, and then they’re shipped off to intermediary companies where specialized staff interpret the documents. This process is the same for security offerings, swaps and ...

Mortgage lenders appear divided on whether a joint venture with home builders at this time would be profitable or just a shot in the dark. With home building and purchase-mortgage lending clearly in a slump, joint ventures are probably more important now than ever because the mortgage process has become more complicated and difficult for the consumer, according to a homebuilding industry executive. Bank of America, however, may be cold on joint ventures right now. Saddled with the misfortunes of Countrywide, BofA strategically ended a joint venture recently with ...

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac issued $154.95 billion in single-family mortgage-backed securities during the second quarter of 2011, a 40.6 percent drop from the first three months of the year.The recent April-June cycle represented the second straight quarterly decline in business volume since the fourth quarter 2010 surge when the two GSEs issued $331.5 billion in MBS.