Finance

The Obama administration is urging Congress to extend a tax provision allowing troubled homeowners that complete a short sale — or benefit from a principal reduction — to avoid paying taxes on the discharged amount of their loan balance.

The growth in demand for multifamily properties will increase future agency CMBS supply, according to an FTN Financial research report released Tuesday.

With its lawsuits hanging by a thread, National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) urged separate federal courts here and in Kansas Friday to allow it to advance its claims and make its case against Wall Street banks who sold faulty MBS that caused the failure of five corporate credit unions.

Litigation consulting firm Analysis Group has hired four new affiliates to the firm, including fixed-income expert John Richard.

Just how hungry is Ocwen Financial Corp. for servicing rights? In a new filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) the nonbank servicer discloses that it is currently reviewing $300 billion of MSRs for purchase.

The bulk of Italian RMBS could withstand a further sharp deterioration in the economy, Fitch Ratings said in a release today.

The Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA) submitted comments to Federal regulators yesterday regarding the proposed Volcker rule provisions on ABS and insurance-linked securities (ILS). The Volcker Rule was added by Section 619 of the Dodd-Frank Act.

The Federal Reserve Board has decided to delay a decision on Capital One Financial Corp.'s $9 billion deal for ING Direct USA, a spokeswoman for the central bank said Monday.

The Obama administration on Monday more than doubled to $61 billion a proposed fee it wants the largest U.S. banks to pay for their role in the financial crisis.

If it weren't for a recent legal settlement with Bank of America, the Federal Home Administration's (FHA) mortgage insurance fund would be in the red.

Brazilian Securities, an agency that specializes in securitizing real estate receivables, is currently in the process of selling two mortgage-backed real estate certificates, or CRIs, with a minimum ticket size of R$1,000 ($582), according to a source close to the deal.

The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) will "soon" increase its annual premium on Jumbo mortgages by 25 basis points, according to government budget documents released Monday morning.

DBRS today published its U.S. Private Student Loan Performance Report for 4Q11. The study contains indices that benchmark loan performance metrics for the private SLABS sector.

Standard & Poor's said in a release Monday that GM Financial's proprietary credit scoring was a better predictor of the performance of their subprime auto ABS than FICO scores.

For the moment, the job of ensuring that the nation's largest banks comply with the terms of last week's mammoth mortgage settlement falls on just one man.Joseph A. Smith, Jr., North Carolina's banking commissioner, is charged with ensuring that the five biggest mortgage servicers — Bank of America Corp., JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, Wells Fargo and Ally Financial — implement new servicing standards and take other steps that are required by the settlement.

A mortgage banking firm specializing in U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) loans is trying to sell $4.5 billion of GNMA-backed mortgage servicing rights through Interactive Mortgage Advisors (IMA), Denver.

Servicers will likely avoid extending modifications as part of the $26 billion AG settlement since they will not be indemnified against investor lawsuits, according to a JPMorgan Securities report.

Auto ABS volume keeps getting bigger with three deals this week, further boosting the sector.

The mortgage insurance division of Genworth Financial is beginning to see a noticeable pick up in Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP) refinancing applications, a sign that the '2.0' version of the program may finally be gaining traction.

In the past three years, the proportion of new-issue non-mortgage ABS deals placed in the private/144A market has risen considerably, according to a recent Barclays Capital report.