Tag Archives: Attorneys & Title Companies

The Federal Housing Finance Agency picked up two new appointees, duly announced by the independent federal agency Tuesday. Richard Hornsby will assume his new role as COO with the FHFA, while Jon Greenlee takes on the position of deputy director of the division of enterprise regulation.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau will clarify and hone rules from 18 consumer financial laws it arrogated from seven federal regulatory agencies in July.

In Massachusetts, the sales pace for single-family homes was on the rise during October, for the fourth consecutive month of year-over-year sales increases in the region. However, the state's housing market continues to struggle overall, with a 9 percent drop in total sales volume recorded for 2012. Single-family home sales in Massachusetts are down in terms of the year-to-date pace; by October of last year, around 34,823 homes had sold in the state, according to a recent sales study by the Warren Group.

The Community Depository Institutions Advisory Council (CDIAC) has revealed its membership line up for 2012. The consulting arm of the Federal Reserve Board also announced its president and vice president appointees, along with four new faces joining the roster.

A U.S. district court judge threw out a settlement Monday that Citigroup proposed as a way to compensate investors for losses related to $1 billion in collateralized mortgage debt. Citigroup wanted to settle with the Securities and Exchange Commission by covering the losses with $285 million. He cited the need for more information in lieu of a request for enforcement of relief by the court from the commission, a federal agency, and Citigroup, a private party.

Rep. Barney Frank, a liberal icon on Capitol Hill and co-author of the financial reform law that bears his name, announced that he will not seek reelection Monday. A newly redistricted area of Massachusetts ├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔé¼┼ô which he represented for 40 years ├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔé¼┼ô adds less than half a million new constituents and straddles an area with which he is unfamiliar, according to Frank. He pledged to continue his public advocacy efforts from outside the Beltway and finish his term in office. Analysts say his departure makes repeal more likely for the Dodd-Frank Act.

A new report from Zacks Equity Research provides an in depth examination of the imminent layoffs for Wells Fargo, Bank of America, Citigroup, Bank of New York Mellon, and State Street. Via the company's Analyst Blog, Zacks.com evaluated the planned personnel reductions and the potential long-term effects of staff cuts from the major financial institutions. According to Zacks, Wells Fargo is moving forward with Project Compass, the entity's cost-efficiency initiative which began in 2010.

United Community Mortgage Corporation has a new partnership. The company recently announced that it has been approved to join the line up of preferred mortgage lenders under the Costco Mortgage Services platform, which is operated and managed by First Choice Bank.

In international news, the sale of securitized bonds is causing concern for the secondary market. Analysts from Morgan Stanley released a recent report indicating that securities earmarked for sale by the European banks holding the bonds could reach as high as $470 billion. For struggling companies, rising costs for funding and capital have weakened their positions, leading to the sale of assets; the institutions seeking to liquidate securities holdings encompass lenders focused on deleveraging and distressed banks.

Embattled mortgage insurer The PMI Group, Inc., caved in to state-imposed roadblocks by voluntarily filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy Wednesday. The move comes a day before a major U.S. holiday and on the heels of a seizure of subsidiaries PMI Mortgage Insurance Co. and PMI Insurance Co. by state regulators with the Arizona Department of Insurance. PMI said that $685 million in senior unsecured notes and about $51.5 million in junior unsecured notes became immediately due and payable as a result of the bankruptcy filing.