A legal action brought by a group of four pension funds against Bank of New York Mellon alleging that the bank failed in its role as trustee to Countrywide MBS investors will proceed in federal court, albeit on much narrower grounds, a U.S. District Court judge has ruled. Last week, Judge William Pauley of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York reduced “with prejudice” the number of Countrywide MBS trusts on which the plaintiffs could sue from 530 to 26. The case is Retirement Board of the Policemen’s Annuity and Benefit Fund of the City of Chicago, et al v. the Bank of New York...

Some liberal interest groups are questioning whether the RMBS working group formed by federal and state enforcement agencies to coordinate securitization investigations is moving fast enough. In an email circulated earlier this week, CREDO, a progressive network, wrote that the Department of Justice has yet to deliver on its promise of 55 investigators to the RMBS working group. As federal and state enforcement agencies were wrapping up the contentious $25 billion settlement with five mortgage servicers in late January, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder announced a new task force designed to “stream...

The mortgage banking industry got some advance notice this week on the direction the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau plans on taking when it issues a mortgage servicing proposed rule later this summer. The CFPB said it wants to design mortgage servicing rules to keep mortgage borrowers from getting stuck with costly surprises because of a lack of transparency or getting the runaround from their mortgage servicer because of a lack of accountability. “In recent years, many borrowers have complained that they did not receive the information they needed to help avoid foreclosure,” CFPB Director Richard...

A conflict-of-interest provision in the $25 billion robo-signing settlement approved by the court last week could make it harder for independent settlement monitor Joseph Smith to organize an oversight monitoring team within the agreement’s timeline. Smith, North Carolina’s former commissioner of banks, may have to issue or seek clarifying guidelines that would allow him to recruit attorneys and other professionals for his monitoring team and begin a phased implementation of the settlement’s servicing standards and mandatory relief requirements, according to an industry attorney. Last week...

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have generally made exceptions to their own rule regarding title impediments for properties with oil, gas, water or mineral rights, though new environmental disputes over hydraulic fracturing may change that, with “confounding implications for a particular region’s lenders,” said rating service DBRS. While contracts that allow for parties other than the property owner to utilize the land often complicate matters, the profitability of leases for resources like natural gas make those properties more attractive, because “the lease would generate income the borrower could apply...

Last week, key Republicans on the House Financial Services Committee asked banking regulators to provide a detailed analysis of a key provision in the controversial proposed rule on risk retention in securitization that could make non-agency MBS issuance unprofitable for issuers. In a letter to the agencies charged with implementing the risk-retention requirements of the Dodd-Frank Act, Republicans Spencer Bachus (AL) and Scott Garrett (NJ) expressed their concerns about the premium capture cash reserve account requirements drafted by the regulators. The PCCRAs would require issuers to hold any premiums...

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac could end up on the hook for millions of dollars in unpaid property taxes as well as the targets of numerous legal complaints following a Michigan federal judge’s ruling that could force the GSEs to open their coffers to a plethora of revenue-starved local governments. Two weeks ago, U.S. District Court Judge Victoria Roberts granted Oakland County, MI, summary judgment in its lawsuit against Fannie and Freddie because the two GSEs failed to pay the transfer tax on deeds recorded by the state Register of Deeds Office, as required by Michigan law.

Bank of America appeared to clear a hurdle in getting final approval for its proposed $8.5 billion MBS settlement when the New York State Supreme Court last week dismissed an attempt to overturn the deal by an investor group that was not included in the settlement. New York State Supreme Court Justice Barbara Kapnick dismissed the complaint brought by Walnut Place LLC and related entities on March 28 saying that the investors can’t sue BofA directly without giving the Bank of New York Mellon enough time to act in its role as the MBS trustee. Walnut Place’s appeal seeks to revive its suit against BofA. Walnut...

The Federal Housing Finance Agency is in the midst of a full and frank appraisal of the Treasury Department’s recently proposed incentive program to spur GSE principal reductions through the Home Affordable Modification Program, with a final answer to be forthcoming later this month, according to the agency head. For months now, FHFA Acting Director Edward DeMarco has been the target of unrelenting political pressure from the Obama administration and Congressional Democrats to allow Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to employ mortgage principal reductions as a tool to modify underwater GSE loans.

President Obama this week signed into law a measure that, among other things, kills big bonus payments to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac executives for as long as the GSEs are subsidized by taxpayers. After nearly two months and some legislative positioning, Congress passed the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act of 2012. Primarily, the STOCK Act bars House and Senate members and their staff from using non-public, inside information for personal benefit.However, an amendment to the bill which was passed on an overwhelmingly bipartisan margin in both houses of Congress prohibits the payment of bonuses over and above a GSE executive’s salary compensation while Fannie and Freddie remain in government conservatorship.