Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in 2012 combined for the third biggest year ever in single-family mortgage-backed securities issuance, according to a new Inside Mortgage Finance market analysis and ranking.

Norton Wells, senior vice president of Bank of America’s mortgage resolution team, has left the company, industry officials confirmed to Inside Mortgage Finance.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has a field hearing scheduled for January 17 in Atlanta, and industry sources fully anticipate that the bureau will release its final mortgage servicing rule the night before.

Newcastle Investment Corp., a key player in the huge servicing sale recently unveiled by Bank of America, has raised roughly $538 million by selling 57.5 million shares of common stock in the open market.

Now that mortgage insurance claims are waning, and new business is on the rise again, there’s increasing talk that Essent Guaranty might file papers to go public this year.

JPMorgan Chase is joining the ranks of banks laying off loan review staff now that they’ve settled their foreclosure cases with the Comptroller of the Currency and the Federal Reserve.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which has a mortgage-related field hearing scheduled for Thursday in Atlanta, is expected to issue its final servicing rule this week.

National MI, the Emeryville, CA-based mortgage insurer started by former executives at The PMI Group, has yet to write its first policy, but may soon.

Arch Bay Capital, once one of the most active buyers of nonperforming residential loans, has sold most of its NPL portfolio and launched a company that will originate non-agency mortgages, according to industry officials who have been briefed on its plans.