The president and chief executive of the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) David Stevens is stepping down after one year to become the president of SunTrust Mortgage.

Mortgage application activity eased 1.3% in the week ending May 25 with both refinancing and purchase activity lower.

Fitch Ratings has assigned preliminary ratings to the student loan ABS issued by Academic Loan Funding Trust (ALFT) 2012-1.

Clopton Capital is offering a hotel construction program for owners and developers of hospitality properties nationwide. This targets developments with total costs between $5 million and $20 million.

Standard & Poor's in a note released today said that it expects easing underwriting standards to drive subprime auto collateral losses modestly higher versus current historical low levels.

The Supreme Court has upheld the rights of lenders to use their debt as currency in bankruptcy auctions.

Freddie Mac acquired almost $26 billion of residential loans during April, a steep 38% decline from the month prior, a sign that originations may be slowing — or that the GSE is losing business to its cross-town rival.

DBRS has released its methodology for rating U.S. letter of credit (LOC)-supported structured finance deals.

World Omni Financial Corp. today filed a prospectus supplement with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to issue under its World Omni Automobile Lease Securitization Trust 2012-A.

U.K.-based Clydesdale Bank is planning to issue new covered bonds from its regulated covered bond program.

The Treasury Department’s decision to raise the amount servicers can pay second-mortgage holders for a lien release should give its short sales program a boost, according to an industry expert.Second-lien holders can veto any short sale so Treasury raised the buyout limit by $2,500 to $8,500 in March along with other improvements to its Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives (HAFA) program.

Allied Irish Bank (AIB) has signed HML to offer the U.K.’s first 48 hour "hot’"standby servicing arrangement for the issuer's £437.6 million ($683 million) securitization of U.K. mortgage assets.