Finance

Taylor, Bean & Whitaker's (TBW) former chairman and CEO Lee Farkas ordered data sent to its warehouse lender, Colonial Bank, for nonexistent mortgages in an effort to cover up growing deficits, an ex-president testified in court this week.

National servicing standards "are clearly doable" according to New York Banking superintendent Richard Neiman, but the Empire State's top regulator says a lack of cooperation between the states and federal regulators is hobbling the effort.

Increases in loan-level price adjustment fees impacted speeds on both FHLMC Gold and GNMA MBS in March.

Freddie Mac reported a one basis point increase in 30- and 15-year fixed mortgage rates to 4.87% and 4.10%, respectively, with an average 0.7 point.

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York and Blackrock Solutions conducted the first BWIC from the Maiden Lane II (MLII) portfolio yesterday. The Fed sold RMBS with a face value of over $1.3 billion on Wednesday.

Spanish pharmaceutical company Grifols launched a $105 million private placement transaction Wednesday, with Mesirow Financial as its agent, a source familiar with the situation confirmed.

A subcommittee of the House Financial Services Committee debated yesterday and is expected to vote a handful of bills this morning that would begin the phase-out of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which now finance a staggering 95% of the single-family mortgage market.

While saying JPMorgan Chase & Co. had enough capital already to comply with new Basel III requirements, Jamie Dimon, the bank's chairman and chief executive, said regulators had gone too far in crafting the international capital accord.

While shaken, consumers' sense of obligation to the mortgage contract remains strong, according to the results of a market survey conducted last summer on behalf of Wells Fargo Home Mortgage.

New research shows that only one-fifth of loans the GSEs purchase would meet the regulators’ definition for “qualified residential mortgages” (QRMs) and would be exempt from the 5% risk retention requirement in the Dodd-Frank Act.

Ending the Making Home Affordable (MHA) Program would increase avoidable foreclosures and put the fragile housing market in worse shape, the program's director told an audience at the SourceMedia Mortgage Servicing Conference Tuesday.

Northern Rock priced its Gosforth Funding 2011-1 RMBS deal today, according to market reports.

Only three banks failed in March 2011, which makes for the slowest monthly pace since December 2008. This was when three banks also failed, according to a Trepp report released today.

PIMCO launched a new real estate finance company, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Mortgage application activity was mixed, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association's (MBA) weekly survey, with the Refinance Index declining despite a slight easing in the 30-year effective mortgage rate.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced Tuesday that Wells Fargo Securities agreed to settle charges that Wachovia Capital Markets engaged in misconduct in the sale of two CDOs tied to the performance of RMBS as the U.S. housing market was beginning to show signs of distress in late 2006 and early 2007.

KKR plans to offer a closed-end fund that invests in loans and other fixed-income securities issued by below-investment grade companies.

Jay Hohman has landed a position as managing director at Cohen & Company Capital Markets.

The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) has critical lending programs for homebuyers, particularly first-timers, but will have to stop endorsing new mortgages if Congress cannot agree on a budget deal with the White House by midnight Friday and the federal government is forced to shutdown.

Delinquency rates on closed-end home equity loans and home equity lines of credit (HELOCs) showed little improvement in the fourth quarter compared to the third, according to new figures released by the American Bankers Association (ABA).