Finance

In his eight years on the Senate Banking Committee, Rick Santorum was an infrequent presence at committee hearings, even though his office was located on the same floor of the Dirksen office building as the committee's hearing room.

Federal regulators must levy fines against residential servicers under their purview to show there are real consequences for their "severe misconduct," according to Federal Reserve governor Sarah Bloom Raskin.

When foreclosure and short sales are excluded from the CoreLogic home price index, it shows that values declined just 0.6% over the 12 months ending Nov. 30.

Societe Generale named Degenhard Schroeren as the head of leveraged finance for Germany, Austria and Central and Eastern Europe, according to reports.

Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) analysts said in a report released today that they disagree with the speculation that the redirection of the GSE fees to pay for non-mortgage related expenses makes a credit rating downgrade is likely.

Santander U.K. is reportedly prepping its first U.K. RMBS for 2012 under the Holmes Master trust series.

The government’s move to change the index that student FFELP loan are tied to should have a slightly positive impact on related ABS, according to Moody’s Investors Service.

Investors holding at least $800 million of secured bonds in Residential Capital Corp. (ResCap) have organized in the event the mortgage firm's parent company, Ally Financial, throws the company into bankruptcy.

More professionals, including securitization staff, are continuing to leave Morgan Stanley, published reports have indicated.

The year may have started off quietly for European securitizations, but it exploded on the covered bond front.

The auto pipeline is filling up with securitizations that are due to price by mid-week. Santander Consumer USA (SC USA), Mitsubishi Motors Credit of America (MMCA) and Ally Bank are all in the market with their respective auto transactions.

Banks will be better buyers of CMBS supply once new origination volumes pick up this year, according to a JPMorgan Securities report.

Current management of the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac conservatorships is contributing to tight mortgage credit conditions, holding back a recovery in the housing market, according to a Federal Reserve Board official.

Conventional prepayments slowed as expected in December as a result of slightly lower refinancing activity in November. This was partially offset by an increase in the number of collection days to 21 from 20.

Albert Sohn, previously head of securitized products at Credit Suisse, will move into alternative investments in asset management at the bank. In his new position, Sohn will manage structured credit and residential real estate assets, according to an internal memo obtained by ASR.

Ally Bank has filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission a propectus supplement to issue an auto securitization under its Ally Auto Receivables Trust 2012-1.

The MBS sector was off to the races as 2012 trading got underway and participants returned from the year-end holiday break. Books opened back up while the supply/demand technical outlook appeared very favorable.

The November Mortgage Monitor report from Lender Processing Services (LPS) showed that mortgage delinquencies at the end of last November were close to 25% less versus the January 2010 peak.

PHH Corp., which this week ousted its CEO amid perceived liquidity concerns, may start selling some of its huge holdings of mortgage servicing rights, according to industry analysts.

Mortgage bankers funded $26.6 billion of Jumbo loans during the third quarter of 2011, a handsome 30% gain from the same period a year earlier, according to new survey figures compiled by ASR sister publication National Mortgage News (NMN) and the Quarterly Data Report.