It would appear that Wells Fargo is raiding the senior staff of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Of course, it could be a mere coincidence.

For those of you tracking the lawsuits filed by GSE preferred investors against the federal government, one attorney told us this week that: “These cases won’t be resolved for years." Meanwhile, it appears that the CSP still has no CEO.

A spokeswoman for the FHFA declined to provide any guidance on when a CEO or chairman might be named for the CSP. She noted: “The common securitization platform project is still in development,” adding that “We have neither final plans nor specific budgets at this time.”

The CSP, headquartered in Bethesda, MD, has an annual budget of between $100 million and $300 million, according to Inside MBS & ABS.

The Department of Labor has asked the Supreme Court of the United States to review an appeals court ruling that put the kibosh on the agency’s policy that mortgage loan officers do not qualify under the administrative exemption to overtime pay. The legal question presented in Thomas E. Perez, Secretary of Labor, et al., petitioners, v. Mortgage Bankers Association, et al., is whether a federal agency must engage in notice-and-comment rulemaking before it can significantly alter an interpretation of an agency regulation. Last October, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia refused...

"I'm pulling my old firm out of the mothballs," Glen Corso told IMFnews.

In a new report, Compass Point Research & Trading asks: “Are the special servicers bad actors?” CPR&T concludes the answer is no, but notes “there is some merit” to concerns about the rapid portfolio growth at certain firms…

Company executive Doug Reilly, commenting on the mortgage M&A market, had this to say: “It seems we need to take 20 girls to the alter just to marry one”…

Despite gains in oversight and reform of the compensation packages for Fannie Mae's and Freddie Mac's top-level executives, the Federal Housing Finance Agency did not keep a close eye on the pay packages for scores of GSE vice presidents and directors, according to the FHFA’s official watchdog. In a heavily redacted draft memo released to the public, the FHFA’s Office of Inspector General said that while the agency reviewed and examined the GSEs' executive compensation, it did not keep close tabs on “non-executive senior professional compensation practices.”

Prospect Mortgage had roughly $975 million in committed warehouse lines at yearend. Its three largest providers include UBS Securities, Bank of America/Merrill Lynch and Fannie Mae.