Securitization

Thomas Parachini has joined SNR Denton's London banking and finance department.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) is ordering servicers under its purview to stop dual tracking foreclosure proceedings and loan modifications whenever legally possible.

Cole Real Estate Investments hired Travis Bowers as senior director of underwriting. In this role, Bowers will be responsible for underwriting functions related to analyzing and acquiring prospective office and industrial acquisition pursuits.

Higher mortgage rates and the Thanksgiving holiday contributed to further slowing in refinancing activity for the week ending Nov. 26.

To quell doubts about its mortgage unit's handling of documents, Bank of America Corp. is distancing itself from … itself.

The drive to privatize Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac may pick up some steam in January when the Republicans actually take over control of the House of Representatives. But it will be largely a lot of hot air, according to federal policy specialists at the National Association of Realtors (NAR).

Some in the “there are no bad bonds, there are only bad prices” club (or perhaps today, the “there are no bonds club”) continue to espouse a love of nonagency RMBS — but for how long?

More data show CMBS delinquencies have been climbing at a notably slower rate, but experts are still seeing downgrades increase and more challenges ahead.

Barclays Capital has launched a new residential mortgage credit model that covers all major residential mortgage products. This tracks mortgages as they progress through the whole chain of borrower actions and servicer reactions.

Home prices fell 0.7% in September — the second monthly decline since July – with values sliding in 18 of the 20 cities measured by the Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller house price index.

An €85 billion ($110 billion) rescue package for Ireland was announced over the weekend. The European Commission (EC) will provide €67.5 billion and the rest will come from Ireland.

Walter Investment Management Corp., Tampa, said it has signed deals to pay $90 million for several pools of mostly performing first liens from undisclosed sellers.

The effect of halted or delayed foreclosure completions and REO sales was realized in the November ABX remittance reports, according to Bank of America Merrill Lynch analysts. This was evidenced by the fact that default rates on each index were down on the month, they said.

Law firm Nixon Peabody has named veteran partner Craig Mills as head of its global finance practice, which it plans to expand, the firm said today.

Homebuilder Lennar Corp.'s subsidiary Rialto Capital completed the first closing of a real estate investment fund with initial equity commitments of around $300 million. This amount includes $75 million committed by Lennar.

Global securities and investment banking firm Jefferies hired James Fadel as a managing director and head of European structured debt capital markets in London.

The chair of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Shelia Bair warned that if left unchecked, rising government debt could rise to 185% of the country’s gross domestic product by 2035.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have resumed sales of foreclosed properties that were placed on hold in late September as a result of questions about improper affidavits used in the foreclosure process.

In an era of low interest rates, weak loan demand and unprecedented efforts by the Federal Reserve Board to pump liquidity into the economy, the demand for Federal Home Loan Bank (FHLB) advances has plummeted to a 10-year low, raising questions about the system's future as the government weighs a redesign of the housing finance sector.

Residential servicers are under siege from regulators, state attorneys general and legislators for messing up the foreclosure process.