Lawmakers raised sharp questions Tuesday about the ties between the 14 largest mortgage servicers and the purportedly independent consultants that were hired to review their practices, putting a top bank regulatory official on the defensive.

An affiliate of Newcastle Investment Corp. – a publicly traded REIT – has agreed to pay $43.7 million to Nationstar Mortgage in exchange for receiving 65% of the interest payments on a $9.9 billion pool of MSRs.

JGWPT Holdings, the parent company of JG Wentworth and Peachtree Financial, closed its $204 million securitization of notes backed by structured settlement and fixed annuity payments.

Mortgage application activity rose 4.1% in the week ending Dec. 9 due solely to a jump in refinancing activity as mortgage rates declined.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) has reached a settlement of roughly $64 million with former senior executives of Washington Mutual Bank, senior agency officials said Tuesday.

Morgan Stanley and MBIA have settled a series of lawsuits.

A little over three years ago insurance giant MetLife looked like a genius. It stuck its toe in the mortgage banking pond by purchasing the production arm of First Horizon, some of its MSRs, and kept adding to the business.By early 2011 it could boast that it ranked 12th in originations and 10th in servicing. In short, it bought a well-respected franchise at the bottom of the market and had little in the way of “legacy” problems to contend with. Profits were decent, but not exceedingly so.

Fitch Ratings analysts think that single-property REO and bulk REO sales will be key components of the housing market in the next two years.

Members of the Senate Banking Committee voiced significant concerns Tuesday in how the agency in charge of overseeing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac has been lagging behind in critical areas identified by a government watchdog.

Information provider Dealogic released data this morning showing that global ABS volume is now at $165.3 billion in 2011 year-to-date. This increased 28% or $129.1 billion over 2010 year-to-date.

The Bank of Ireland's successful RMBS tender offer on its Kildare and Brunel securitization programs is likely to be followed by more similar offers as banks continue to work to meet new capital requirements.

Prefunding in securitization transaction structures is credit negative because it introduces a risk to ABS investors, according to Moody's Investors Service.