Finance

The Treasury Department announced Wednesday that it would extend the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) to Oct. 3, 2010.

The nation's top accounting regulator told banking supervisors Tuesday they are free to apply their own judgments to bank financial statements.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Tuesday slapped the now-defunct Brookstreet Securities Corp., Irvine, Calif., with civil fraud charges, accusing it of causing "substantial investor losses" on the sale of $300 million worth of CMOs.

Markit plans to launch a new credit derivative index that allows investors to protect against losses in U.S. prime mortgages, or bet on the deterioration in their credit quality.

Fitch Ratings has placed all its structured finance transactions in Greece on Rating Watch Negative (RWN) following the downgrade of the Greek sovereign ratings to 'BBB+'/ 'F2' with Negative Outlook.

The recent dismissal of TCW Group’s chief investment officer has triggered the Treasury Department to freeze the Public-Private Investment Program (PPIP) funds that TCW is in charge of, according to market reports.

Michael J. Schozer resigned Monday from his post as president of Assured Guaranty Corp. (AGC), a position he has held since December 2003, according to a company filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday.

Salene Residential Mortgage Opportunity Fund, which counts MBS pioneer Lewis Ranieri among its managing partners, has been identified as being the "stalking horse" bid on a portfolio of homes owned by the now-defunct Taylor, Bean & Whitaker (TBW) of Ocala, Fla.

House Financial Services Committee chairman Barney Frank, D-Mass., is adding a provision to his massive regulatory reform package that would provide $3 billion in relief for unemployed homeowners.

Standard & Poor’s lowered the rating on 78 tranches of Northern Rock's Granite RMBS following increases in arrears, repossessions and losses.

Investment firm Cohen & Co. Securities has launched a new leveraged finance business, the New York-based firm announced today.

Delta Lloyd’s Arena 2009-1 RMBS transaction saw good interest from a variety of European investors.

Once considered the biggest winner under the Obama administration's regulatory revamp plan, the Federal Reserve is likely to lose substantial power if reform legislation is enacted, as expected.

The Federal Reserve made several modifications and clarifications to the the Term ABS Loan Facility's (TALF) terms and conditions.

Only 6% of trial modifications have become permanent or are likely to become permanent under the Obama administration's foreclosure program, according to data the Treasury Department plans to release on Thursday.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) late Monday suspended Equitable Trust Mortgage Corp. (ETMC) of Baltimore from making Federal Housing Administration (FHA)-backed loans — the second such suspension of a lender within a week.

The U.S. market for covered bonds may be a step closer to reality thanks to the efforts of New Jersey Congressman Scott Garrett, who introduced an amendment during the House Financial Services Committee's markup of the Financial Stability Improvement Act of 2009.

Deutsche Bank Securities analysts favor being long the basis currently given the Federal Reserve's support of the MBS market.

Delinquency rates on commercial real estate mortgages continued to rise in the third quarter as the 30-day or more past due rate on CMBS topped 4% — the highest ever.

Lobbyists are hearing that the House Judiciary Committee wants to tack a bankruptcy cramdown amendment onto the massive regulatory reform package that the House of Representatives will debate and vote on this week.