Economy

Mortgages taken out to fund business operations can now be modified in bankruptcy. That’s a relief to borrowers — particularly with business failures expected to increase as the pandemic drags on — but a possible headache for banks and investors that hold the loans.

While rival banks reported increases in loans and deposits, thanks largely to their participation in the Paycheck Protection Program, State Street and Bank of New York Mellon saw their balance sheets shrink in the second quarter.

The Detroit lender disclosed that the consumer bureau had sent a civil investigative demand to Rocket Homes Real Estate for potential violations of the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act.

A recent ruling declaring the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s structure unconstitutional signaled that a similar outcome awaits the Federal Housing Finance Agency. But the FHFA will argue in a new case that it does not deserve the same fate.

Bankers Healthcare Group, affiliated with Pinnacle Financial, is launching into securitization to branch out from its primary strategy of selling its medical-professional loans to community banks.

The council created by the Dodd-Frank Act to identify systemic risks launched a review of the market as part of an activities-based approach that shifts focus away from targeting individual firms.

Bankers had asserted in April that they could handle a slump in oil prices tied to the coronavirus pandemic. Continued volatility, combined with declining collateral values and a rise in bankruptcies for exploration companies, is denting their confidence.

B. Riley FBR raised its ratings for both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to sell from neutral on the possibility the net worth sweep is declared illegal.

The high court ruled June 29 that the structure of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau violated the separation of powers.

If it’s approved, the charter is expected to lower the fintech’s cost of funds and allow for more product offerings. It comes nearly three years after SoFi pulled the plug on an earlier effort to open an industrial bank.