Obama administration officials have identified several constraints on the HARP program – including mortgage buyback risk – that are keeping Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac seller/servicers from refinancing underwater borrowers.

MGIC is in discussions to sell its eMagic unit as well as its Myers Internet business, a company spokeswoman confirmed.

Morgan Stanley this week took bids on its residential servicing division, Saxon Mortgage, Ft. Worth, Texas, which holds $28 billion of contracts on its books, according to M&A officials.

BNP Paribas Securities Corp.has joined CME Group to clear credit default swaps, futures and over-the-counter (OTC) interest rate swaps.

U.S. credit card delinquency rates are nearing a six-year low, according to latest Credit Card Index results from Fitch Ratings.

Juergen Stark is set to announce his retirement as chief economist of the European Central Bank (ECB), according to several market reports.

Although President Obama Thursday night made a slight reference to a government-backed refi plan for troubled mortgagors, the effort appears to be temporarily stalled over concerns about what effect it would have on both MBS investors and the megabanks, according to advisors and trade group sources who claim to have knowledge of the program.

Fitch Ratings submitted its comment letter in response to the Securities and Exchange Commission's Solicitation of Comment to Assist in Study on Assigned Credit Ratings, which is required by Section 939F of the Dodd-Frank Act.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) last week issued a concept release that reexamines the ability of REITs to use an exclusion under the Investment Company Act of 1940.

Bond insurer Assured Guaranty has a bone to pick with Standard & Poor's over the rating agency's new bond insurance rating criteria.

The massive lawsuits that the federal government brought last week against many of the largest U.S. and global banks underscore the deepening tension within the executive branch with regard to housing.