Genworth Financial Inc.’s U.S. mortgage insurance segment continued to be a burden to its parent despite reporting a narrower operating loss of $34 million in the fourth quarter of 2012, compared to losses of $38 million in the prior quarter and $96 million in the prior year. Nonetheless, the reduced amount of losses during the period was good news to company executives who reported net income of $166 million, or 34 cents a share, during the period from $142 million, or 29 cents, a year earlier. Operating profit was $167 million, or 34 cents a share, up from ...
California and Texas took the honors for top FHA producers among states and other U.S. jurisdictions in 2012, with a combined $59.2 billion in new mortgage loans insured by the FHA. The combined output of the two states represented 25.5 percent of the $232.1 billion in new FHA originations reported by all 50 states, Puerto Rico, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands and the District of Columbia for the entire year. Total FHA production by state was up a modest 5.2 percent in the fourth quarter from the previous quarter and a hefty 21.9 percent from the prior year. California, which accounts for 25 percent of the U.S. housing market, reported ...
The Federal Financial institutions Examination Council is taking a close look at social media and the risks it poses to financial institutions, including mortgage lenders.
Massachusetts will not join other states in the Justice Department’s lawsuit against Standard & Poor’s, but instead will conduct its own fraud probe tied to CDO ratings.
Wells Fargo remained the top mortgage servicer in the industry at the end of 2012, but the company posted a rare decline in its portfolio during the fourth quarter and is reportedly considering selling some of its massive $1.873 trillion portfolio. A new Inside Mortgage Finance ranking and analysis of the servicing market underscores the gains made in market share by a handful of nonbanks and some regional banks, while some of the top servicers continue to pare their businesses. The servicing industry faces a significant challenge in that increased regulatory requirements are raising operational costs at a time when the overall market continues to decline. On the upside, much of the damage from the housing recession has already occurred...[Includes one data chart]
Republican critics of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau are maneuvering to take advantage of a sudden opportunity to push for changes to the leadership structure and the finances of the bureau, after a surprise legal ruling breathed new life into their long-running struggle to clip the new agencyfs wings. Last month, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled in Noel Canning v. National Labor Relations Board that three recess appointments President Obama made to the NLRB were unconstitutional because the Senate was technically not in recess at the time they were made. Industry lawyers believe...
HARP 3.0 Status Update: Democrats in both the Senate and the White House are warming up efforts to expand government-backed refinance programs in order to assist underwater homeowners whose mortgages are packaged into non-agency securities. Repurposed refi proposals from last year are poised to be re-introduced in the 113th Congress with the active and vocal support of the Treasury Department, which may enact its own initiative if lawmakers can’t or won’t pass a measure. “We must expand...
RSS