Participants in the residential mortgage market were largely pleased with the risk-retention requirements finalized last week for certain non-agency MBS. However, the requirements, which also cover commercial MBS and other ABS, drew a wide range of criticism from others. “The short version is that the rule doesn’t require meaningful credit risk retention where it counts, and imposes significant market-shaping safe-harbor requirements where skin in the game isn’t so important,” said Adam Levitin, a professor of law at the Georgetown University Law Center. He noted...

An internal conflict within the Securities and Exchange Commission is reportedly holding up final resolution of Bank of America’s record $16.65 billion settlement with government agencies. The settlement, announced last August, is stalled due to a partisan dispute among the five SEC commissioners over granting a waiver on additional sanctions that would take hold when the settlement is entered into court. The sanctions, if enacted, could adversely affect...

One veteran mortgage trade group official, a staunch Republican no less, told us that Lawsky is an “honest and bright guy,” adding that he understands the issues.

Mortgage professionals seem cautiously optimistic about new policy proposals from the Federal Housing Finance Agency on buyback relief and high loan-to-value lending, but it remains to be seen whether they will have the desired impact. Speaking at the annual convention of the Mortgage Bankers Association last week, FHFA Director Mel Watt shared some concrete details about the new “life of loan” representation-and-warranty relief and outlined a number of other changes on tap.

An Iowa-based GSE last week asked a federal court in the state to give “no weight” to a ruling earlier this month by a federal judge who dismissed litigation by other GSE shareholders, including Perry Capital and Fairholme Funds. Continental Western Insurance Co. filed papers in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Iowa Central Division arguing that Judge Royce Lamberth was “simply wrong” in his interpretation of the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 and his HERA-based rationale to shut down shareholders’ suits in DC.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency may end up having second thoughts about its proposed housing goals for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac given the room for improvement industry members cited in comment letters to the agency. Issued by the FHFA in September, the proposal would increase some of the benchmark levels for Fannie’s and Freddie’s affordable housing goals through 2017, while also establishing new housing subgoals for low-income multifamily properties.

Fannie Mae will pay $170 million to certain investors to settle a consolidated class-action lawsuit that alleges the GSE misrepresented its exposure to subprime loans in the run up to the 2008 mortgage crisis.The lead plaintiffs in the case include the Massachusetts Pension Reserves Investment Management Board and State Boston Retirement Board, which represent a class of common stockholders. The Tennessee Consolidated Retirement System represents a class of preferred stockholders.

A federal judge last week dismissed claims brought by the state of Massachusetts that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac violated state law by putting limits on the sale of pre- and post-foreclosure homes. State Attorney General Martha Coakley filed suit in June against the Federal Housing Finance Agency, as GSE conservator, alleging that Fannie and Freddie are violating state law by refusing to negotiate lower terms for distressed Bay State homeowners.

The share price of Ocwen Financial recently fell to a 52-week low of $18.47, a 70 percent decline that has wiped out at least $5 billion in market equity.