The plaintiffs argue that state law prohibits the preferred stock of a corporation from getting a cumulative dividend right equal to all of a company's net worth...
Industry-wide mortgage originations slowed significantly in the fourth quarter of 2015, although lenders reported a wide range of results compared to the previous quarter. An estimated $385.0 billion of first-lien home mortgages were originated in the final three months of 2015, according to a new Inside Mortgage Finance ranking and analysis. That was down 15.4 percent from the third quarter, but it brought annual production to an estimated $1.735 trillion for the year, a 33.5 percent increase from 2014. Annual origination volume in 2015 was...[Includes two data tables]
Bowing to pressure from investors – in particular, Carl Icahn – American International Group this week rolled out a blueprint to increase shareholder value, including a partial spin-off of its top-ranked mortgage insurance division, United Guaranty Corp. Although both AIG and UGC were not entertaining questions on the details, a spinoff of the MI business could come by mid-year with up to 19.9 percent of the unit being sold to the public. Eventually, AIG said...
The turmoil in financial markets around the world is fueling a flight to safety on the part of investors into U.S. dollar-denominated assets, helping to keep mortgage rates in the U.S. housing market lower than they otherwise would be. But how long that will continue is anyone’s guess. “The recent volatility in worldwide financial markets caused Treasury rates to decline, so we’ve seen that being picked up in mortgage rates,” Danielle Hale, managing director of housing statistics for the National Association of Realtors, told Inside Mortgage Finance. Mike Fratantoni, chief economist at the Mortgage Bankers Association, said...