Can a technology that helped bring the cryptocurrency Bitcoin into being enhance the securitization markets? The Structured Finance Industry Group and the Chamber of Digital Commerce think so and have partnered to help make it happen. According to Perianne Boring, founder and president of the CDC, which bills itself as the world’s largest trade association representing the blockchain industry, “The securitization process is an ideal candidate for the efficiencies of distributed ledger technology. “Blockchain platforms create...

The threat of large, unpredictable settlements are looming over several European banks that have not yet resolved their remaining MBS lawsuits, putting pressure on their earnings and capital, according to a new Fitch Ratings report. Uncertainty about the scale of penalties from legacy MBS lawsuits will compel the affected banks to continue being cautious about managing and retaining capital, and distributing dividends. Though most of the banks have strengthened their capital positions considerably since the financial crisis, there would be no rest for them until the last settlement dime has been paid, the report indicated. Bank settlements with U.S. agencies relating to fraud investigations of their roles in the financial crisis, specifically their legacy MBS business, have...

Each of the parties that were rebuffed recently in their attempts to intervene in the controversial legal dispute between PHH Corp. and the CFPB decided they wouldn’t take “no” for an answer. Each of them again filed a motion with the U.S. District Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit seeking permission to intervene in the case, contrary to prevailing appeals court rules. Earlier this month, Democrat attorneys general from 16 states and the District of Columbia submitted a petition for rehearing en banc. Also, Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-OH, and Rep. Maxine Waters, D-CA, submitted a motion for rehearing en banc, as did a handful of public interest, consumer advocacy groups. All seek to inject themselves into the ...

It’s not just the defenders of the CFPB that are itching to enter the legal fray between the bureau and PHH Corp. The plaintiffs in State National Bank of Big Spring, Texas, et al. v. Lew have also filed a motion to intervene in the en banc proceeding. The plaintiffs – State National Bank of Big Spring, TX, the 60 Plus Association and the Competitive Enterprise Institute – had previously asked the federal district court for the District of Columbia to consolidate their 2012 lawsuit against the CFPB with that of PHH. However, they were recently denied. In their subsequent petition to the U.S. District Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit, the plaintiffs noted, “More than 18 months ago, this court ...

It looks like the CFPB may be prepping an enforcement action against Altisource Portfolio Solutions over certain unspecified technology services provided to Ocwen, its largest customer, according to Altisource’s 10-K filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, filed in recent days. “[O]n Nov. 10, 2016, Altisource received a Notice and Opportunity to Respond and Advise (NORA) letter from the CFPB indicating that the CFPB is considering a potential enforcement action against Altisource relating to an alleged violation of federal law that primarily concerns certain technology services provided to Ocwen,” the firm said. On Dec. 15, 2016, Altisource provided a written response to the NORA letter setting forth the legal, policy and factual reasons why it believes an enforcement action is ...

Harbour Portfolio Advisors of Dallas, one of the largest providers of seller-financed homes in the U.S., must comply with a civil investigative demand from the CFPB for documents and other information, according to a recent ruling by Judge Nancy Edmunds of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, in Detroit. The main issue here, according to the respondents in the case, is whether the bureau’s investigative authority extends to their selling, marketing and servicing of a financial product called an agreement for deed (AFD), otherwise known as a “contract for deed” or a “land installment contract.” An AFD is a written agreement to purchase residential property, whereby the seller agrees to deliver a deed to the purchaser ...

The Department of Housing and Urban Development is apparently poised to begin an investigation of allegations of redlining on the part of CIT Group, Pasadena, CA, through its CIT Bank subsidiary, the successor to OneWest Bank, after agreeing to accept a complaint against the lender filed by the California Reinvestment Coalition. The CRC alleges the bank violated and continues to violate the Fair Housing Act by providing residential real estate-related transactions in a manner that discriminates on the basis of race, color and national origin. Specifically, the complaint alleges that since at least 2011, CIT Bank discriminated in marketing and originating housing-related products, as evidenced by the low number of mortgages it made to African-American, Asian-American and Latino borrowers in ...

Could this be an omen of the decision to come? Earlier this month, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit granted the CFPB’s request for an en banc rehearing in its controversial legal dispute, PHH Corp. v. CFPB. “Upon consideration of respondent’s [CFPB] petition for rehearing en banc, the briefs amici curiae in support of the petition, the response of the United States to the petition, the response of the petitioners [PHH Corp.] to the petition, the supplemental response of petitioners, and the vote in favor of the petition by a majority of judges eligible to participate, it is ordered the petition be granted,” 10 of the court’s 11 justices wrote in their ruling. One of ...

Despite a Feb. 21 ruling barring GSE shareholders from making illegal Treasury sweep claims, plaintiffs and speculators are keeping hope alive. In Perry Capital LLC vs. Treasury, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia put a stop to shareholders who have been arguing that the government is illegally confiscating GSE profits, citing language in the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008. The Appeals Court notes: “We hold that the stockholders’ statutory claims are barred by the Recovery Act’s strict limitation on judicial review … We also reject most of the stockholders’ common-law claims. Insofar as we have subject matter jurisdiction over the stockholders’ common-law claims against...

Several more documents were released in relation to an ongoing GSE shareholder case out to prove that the government knew Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were on the path to profitability at the time the Treasury sweep was put in place.The release came after a judge rejected the government’s appeal of an earlier ruling requiring it to turn over a slew of documents for which it had asserted various forms of privilege in Fairholme Funds vs. United States, et al. All of the latest documents are from 2012. They include a July 20, 2012, memo stating “thoughts on how to signal a plan to amend the preferred stock purchase agreements,” from Treasury...