Finance

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) has fined SunTrust Robinson Humphrey and SunTrust Investment Services a total of $5 million for failing to disclose the risks of auction-rate securities when underwriting and selling them.

All sectors of the commercial real estate market showed signs of stabilization or slight improvement in 1Q11, according to Moody’s Investors Service Red-Yellow-Green quarterly property assessment.

Foreclosure doesn't usually mean coming down in the world, economists at the Federal Reserve have found.

Originations of Federal Housing Administration (FHA)-backed loans fell 23% during the first three quarters of fiscal 2011 compared to the same period a year earlier, a further sign of a weakening single-family market.

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) has issued an Investor Alert warning investors not to choose risky yet high-reward asset classes over more traditional investments.

Standard & Poor’s found that default rates on U.S. residential mortgage loans continued to fall in June, but the firm is cautious about the remaining threat posed by shadow inventory.

In January all the mortgage industry was aflutter with talk that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac —under the tutelage of their regulator — were weighing a change to minimum servicing fees.

At the American Securitization Forum’s (ASF) Sunset Seminar last week, panelists agreed on the potential problems that the proposed regulatory requirement on loan level data disclosure will bring.

Mortgage industry groups are calling for the creation of a strong safe harbor clause that will shield lenders from litigation if they originate loans that comply with ‘Qualified Mortgage’ underwriting standards.

As Washington's banking-policy community was focused on the first anniversary of the Dodd-Frank Act, one important player in the law's passage was noticeably absent.

National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) filed another suit last week against Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) over MBS sold to WesCorp Federal Credit Union, the one-time $34 billion corporate that failed in 2009.

Cohen & Steers, an asset manager specializing in real estate, predicts that U.S. REITs will boost dividends by 10% a year for the next five years.The sunny outlook, which cites a recovery in cash flows, comes in spite of the continued woes of many segments of the U.S. housing markets and the sluggish economic recovery.

Consumer ABS is well-positioned to maintain ratings stability in the wake of a potential double-dip recession, according to a new Fitch Ratings report.

Toyota Motor Credit Corp. will be issuing five classes of notes backed by Toyota or Lexus passenger car, minivan, light-duty truck or sport utility vehicle leases and related assets.

Mortgage, housing, and even local politicians are stepping up pressure on congressional appropriators to extend the maximum $729,750 loan limit on government-backed loans for another year, fearing that a failure to act will damage already stressed real estate markets.

Whole Loan Capital is auctioning off a $553 million portfolio of GSE and bank residential servicing rights.

The CFPB has published with the Federal Register for public comment an interim final rule establishing Regulation D or the Alternative Mortgage Transaction Parity.

Short sale timelines and completions are improving, but servicing executives also know their industry can have better results in the government-backed Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives program, according to panelists at this week’s Best Practices in Loss Mitigation Conference in Dallas, sponsored by National Mortgage News.

Deer Park Road Corp., a distressed mortgage and ABS fixed-income securities manager, has strengthened its portfolio management team as the firm’s assets continue to grow, it announced in a July 20 statement.

The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) is developing an index of "healing housing markets" in an attempt to offset the negative press that casts a pall over the entire sector whenever national price statistics are released.