Tag Archives: Goldman Sachs

Former Goldman Sachs executive Joshua Pollard on Wednesday sent a sobering 18-page report to the White House warning of a potential nosedive in home prices that could put the country back into a recession before the ripples of the previous one settle. According to Pollard, the former head of the Goldman's housing research team, home price appreciation is outpacing income, and the United States is on the brink of a 15 percent decline in home prices over the next three years.

Goldman Sachs has agreed to pay $3.15 billion to settle a lawsuit filed by the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) over faulty RMBS. Under the terms of the settlement, Goldman Sachs will pay $2.15 billion to Freddie Mac and about $1 billion to Fannie Mae to buy back the alleged faulty RMBS the two GSEs purchased between 2005 and 2007. FHFA estimates the worth of the settlement to be about $1.2 billion due to the bonds' current value.

Citigroup announced this week it has agreed to pay approximately $1.13 billion to settle repurchase claims on residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS). According to the bank’s announcement, Citi has agreed to make a binding offer to the trustees of 68 Citi-sponsored mortgage trusts that issued a combined $59.4 billion in RMBS from 2005–2008.

In 1998, the top ten mortgage loan originators held around 40 percent of the market. By 2010, their share increased to nearly 80 percent; since then, it's dropped down to around 60 percent. Why the decrease? Because only five of the top 20 single-family mortgage originators in 2006 remain active today. So what's driving the big guys out--market cycles or market restructuring? And will the current trend of favoring smaller lenders last forever? Fannie Mae's Gerry Flood and Patrick Fischetti explored the topic in a recent commentary.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency and General Electric reached a settlement to resolve claims of faulty mortgage-backed securities sold to Freddie Mac.

After losing a previous bid earlier this year, UBS is making another attempt to shut down a lawsuit from the Federal Housing Finance Agency.

Two more banks have lost in their attempts to dismiss claims of misconduct in sale of mortgage-backed securities (MBS) to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. U.S. District Judge Denise Cote rejected motions filed by Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Bank, two of 16 defendants brought before her court by the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA). Cote's rulings on both motions cite previous judgments made on similar arguments brought to her by JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, and UBS--all of which also failed.

Goldman Sachs is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to dismiss a mortgage securities class action lawsuit that the company says could cost Wall Street tens of billions of dollars, according to a report from Reuters. The bank is facing a suit from the NECA-IBEW Health & Welfare Fund, which is suing on behalf of investors who say they were misled about the securities' risk. Goldman's lawyers are arguing against the suit, citing a 2011 decision that investors may not sue over securities they did not purchase themselves.

The Goldman Sachs Group Inc. has officially lost its bid to dismiss a lawsuit initiated by hedge fund Dodona I LLC over claims that the company misrepresented a $2 billion offering of collateralized debt obligations. U.S. District Judge Victor Marreno rescinded Goldman's move to have the case dismissed, and Dodona will now continue to pursue its legal proceedings against the company in federal court. Goldman is currently facing several lawsuits related to its RMBS offerings. Specifically, Dodona filed its lawsuit over Hudson Mezzanine Funding 2006-I and 2006-2 CDOs.

Goldman Sachs scooped up $6.2 billion in risky mortgage bonds from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, the central bank said Wednesday. The Maiden Lane II assets stem from the taxpayer-funded bailout of American International Group during the financial crisis. An original senior loan in the amount of $19.5 billion needed repayment, and Credit Suisse offered an initial inquiry to pick up the tab for Maiden II assets last fall. The federal government held out on an offer until it felt the sale would mete out a higher rate of return for the public.