Bank of Commerce Holdings in Redding, CA, has bailed out of the mortgage-making business in the face of tighter and more demanding regulatory oversight. The bank recently sold off its 51 percent stake in Bank of Commerce Mortgage, which it acquired in 2009, to the partners of Simonich Corp., who already owned the other 49 percent.The agreement provides for a continued relationship between the two companies on the funding side and puts both parties in the best position to pursue their core competencies, the firms said...

A ranking Republican on the House Financial Services Committee this week gave notice that GOP lawmakers will be looking to rein in the Federal Reserve’s “radical” and unfettered influence and authority over the nation’s financial system during the 113th Congress next year. Rep. Scott Garrett, R-NJ, chairman of the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Capital Markets and Government Sponsored Enterprises, outlined his two top priorities for Congress in 2013 just as the Federal Open Market Committee announced plans to add about $40 billion a month to its massive agency MBS portfolio. Garrett said the committee’s first priority will be...

The Securities and Exchange Commission has decided to set aside efforts to standardize credit ratings due to serious concerns raised by credit rating agencies and other market participants. Instead, the SEC said it will focus on rulemaking under the Dodd-Frank Act to achieve transparency in credit rating performance and in the methods used to determine credit ratings. In a mandated report to Congress on the standardization of credit ratings, the SEC said...

A ruling last week regarding the purchase of $440,000 of non-agency MBS in late 2007 and mid 2008 appears to have significantly expanded liability for non-agency MBS issuers. The ruling expands liability beyond trusts specifically purchased by investors to potentially all trusts in an issuer’s shelf with mortgages originated by the same lenders. The decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit on NECA-IBEW Health & Welfare Fund v. Goldman Sachs overturned a 2010 ruling by the district court which had dismissed the case. “The Second Circuit’s decision in this case not only represents...

In a reversal apparently targeted at reducing criticism of its plan, Mortgage Resolution Partners late last week announced that it would include delinquent mortgages in its eminent domain scheme. The firm also strongly defended its proposal in a comment letter sent to the Federal Housing Finance Agency. “After discussions with local governments across the country, MRP will expand the services it provides to cover all loans [in non-agency MBS], not just those that are current,” said Graham Williams, CEO of MRP. “This will enable local governments to acquire and resolve the greatest number of loans, helping the greatest number of homeowners.” The expansion was announced the same day comments were due...

A trio of industry trade groups is asking a federal appeals court to uphold a nearly century-old law that grants federal-court jurisdiction to civil lawsuits against any U.S. corporation in which claims arise from international banking or banking transactions in a U.S. territory. Last week, the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association, New York Bankers Association and California Bankers Association filed an amicus brief with the U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals on behalf of Bank of America in its MBS lawsuit with American International Group. AIG filed...

The eminent domain proposal from Mortgage Resolution Partners will either painlessly help thousands of non-agency borrowers or severely harm the non-agency market, according to industry participants. The newly expanded plan could even hinder efforts to revive the non-agency market going forward, according to MRP’s opponents. “Eminent domain is an important method for mitigating losses to investors,” Graham Williams, CEO of MRP, said in a comment letter last week to the Federal Housing Finance Agency ...

Lender-related underwriting and disclosure issues have prompted a significant increase in liability for non-agency mortgage-backed security issuers, based on a court ruling last week. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit found that liability extends beyond trusts specifically purchased by investors to potentially all trusts in an issuer’s shelf with mortgages originated by the same lenders. “Investors may now seek to intervene to broaden classes in MBS class actions that don’t explicitly ...

A California-based lender that had a $400,000 minimum loan amount policy agreed to a settlement with the Department of Justice this week regarding alleged discrimination. Luther Burbank Savings will spend $2.0 million as part of the settlement and is prohibited from implementing a $400,000 minimum loan amount policy. The lender denied the discrimination allegations, did not admit any wrongdoing as part of the settlement and claimed the loan amount policy was tied to its focus on nontraditional mortgages ...

The Federal Housing Finance Agency and the National Credit Union Administration recently filed separate lawsuits seeking repurchases of mortgages in non-agency mortgage-backed securities. The FHFA lawsuit filed in August against DB Structured Products relates to ACE Securities Corp. Home Equity Loan Trust, Series 2006-FM1, which Freddie Mac purchased in August 2006. The FHFA did not disclose the size of Freddie’s investment. And last week the NCUA filed a lawsuit against UBS Securities ... [Includes three briefs]