Industry consultant Joe Garrett notes that one of his clients (back in 2003) had 52 loan officers and “about 52 comp plans”…

HUD believes the program’s initial objectives have been attained and that prudence and vigilance are again called for to prevent abuses.

The investor-plaintiffs claim that Fannie and two of the company’s former executives made false and misleading statements about the mortgage giant’s internal controls and its exposure to subprime.

For a bond investor such as PIMCO, the attraction should not come as a total surprise.

Ginnie Mae this week provided new details to the long-anticipated plan for increased issuer net worth and liquidity and a new performance scoring method for issuer activity – changes that could adversely affect small issuers and portfolio servicers. In remarks at the Mortgage Bankers Association’s annual convention in Las Vegas, Ginnie Mae President Ted Tozer said the changes are part of a larger effort to ensure the continuing flexibility and availability of the agency’s mortgage-backed securities program to as many entities as possible. New types of issuers and counterparties have entered the agency-backed MBS market in the wake of the financial crisis, which called for adjustments and tailored approaches to the evolving housing finance market, Tozer noted. Tozer said both policy changes and staff expertise will ensure the success of ...

Note to Ocwen management: every US employee is a potential mortgage customer. Think about it.

Issuers of securities backed by assets other than residential mortgages were able to win some concessions from federal regulators in the final risk-retention rule that was approved this week. However, the standards for “qualified” loans that are exempt from risk-retention requirements are much more stringent than those for qualified-residential mortgages, even including downpayment requirements in some instances. The risk-retention requirements for non-mortgage ABS and commercial MBS take effect two years after the final rule is published in the Federal Register. Securities that include loans that don’t qualify for exemptions will be required to have risk-retention of at least 5.0 percent, though there are instances when the required retention can be lower. The final standards qualifying commercial loans, commercial real-estate loans and auto loans were...

As part of the transaction, company founder and president Steven Horne will step down as president and chief executive officer, but will remain as a senior advisor.

The new nonbank task force includes representatives from nine state regulators, including the New York Department of Financial Services where Benjamin Lawsky is the superintendent.

According to the most recently available data, 33 IG offices had roughly 3,500 agents authorized to carry firearms.