The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency recently fined HSBC $32.5 million for failure to correct faulty foreclosure practices in a timely manner as per a consent order originally issued back in 2011 to correct practices that harmed borrowers in the wake of the housing market’s collapse. The OCC also said the institution failed to file payment change notices (PCN) that complied with bankruptcy rules, which resulted in roughly $3.5 million in borrower remediation for approximately 1,700 mortgage loan accounts. “The bank’s untimely and missed PCN filing practices did not comply with bankruptcy rules, required the bank to undertake operational enhancements to achieve compliance, and were unsafe and unsound practices,” according to the consent order. The bank neither admitted ...
It’s been no secret in Washington financial circles that shortly after Donald Trump was elected president, the decision was made by his “team” to fire CFPB director Richard Cordray...
Judge William Pauley of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York has approved a $335 million settlement by Bank of America with three pension funds and other investors to resolve a securities class-action against the bank. The settlement is one of the largest class-action settlements of securities-purchase claims arising from the financial crisis, according to the Pennsylvania Public School Employees’ Retirement System (PSERS), the court appointed lead plaintiff in the six-year old case. Other investors include...
With financial markets awaiting, with some uncertainty, the public policy positions of the incoming Trump administration and the new Congress, industry analysts say ABS investors can expect most sectors to turn in stable performances in 2017. “As we look back on 2016 and consider the 2017 global structured finance outlook, most markets and their credit conditions seem favorable, and in some cases, even ideal. However, 2017 has many unknowns, especially the specific policies and priorities that will be adopted by the new U.S. administration,” said analysts with S&P Global Ratings in a recent outlook report. “Some would suggest government-sponsored enterprise privatization is possible, risk retention could be revised, and an appropriate/globally consistent capital treatment for structured finance products could be approved.” Further, “For the most part, we expect...
Heavy refinance activity at the end of the year lifted single-family business at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to a three-year high in 2016, according to a new Inside The GSEs analysis and ranking. The two firms guaranteed $973.72 billion of single-family mortgage-backed securities during 2016, up 18.1 percent from the previous year. That included a 5.7 percent increase from the third to the fourth quarter that was fueled by a 24.5 percent jump in refi loans delivered into new GSE MBS. While both companies saw solid gains from 2015 activity, Fannie’s 23.3 percent increase was more than double the 11.0 percent rise in Freddie volume. [includes two charts]
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