Tag Archives: Citigroup

Litigation fees, bold restructuring moves, and new regulation helped shape earnings figures over the third quarter for the nation's largest lenders and financial institutions in October. Along with numerous other banking holding companies and investment firms, Bank of America, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, and Wells Fargo released their reports to the media and investors over the past two weeks. The results: more mortgage lenders continue to exit the business, while financial institutions stepped up the public debate against onerous regulations.

The nation's four biggest mortgage lenders recently signed up for modifications to the Home Affordable Refinance Program, adding credibility to a mass refinance opportunity that met with cheers and criticism this week. The Federal Housing Finance Agency announced this week that it would lift the 125-percent loan-to-value ratio for mortgages, do away with risk-based fees for borrowers with short-term loans, and extend the lifetime of the program until 2013. B of A, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, and Wells Fargo all came forward.

Bank shares lifted in the enthusiastic market response to news that European Union states reached a grand bargain to save the euro, but analysts speaking with MReport pare jubilation with forecasts for fewer refinance applications and home purchases. After two years of time spent in a debt crisis, European leaders cobbled together a third bailout measure to salvage debt-ridden Greece and prevent further peril for the continent├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔÇ×┬ós common currency.

The meeting cancellation before a major summit of European Union state leaders spooked the markets Tuesday, according to multiple news outlets, leading the Dow Jones Industrial Average into a 207-point nosedive and slashing stocks and shares for the nation├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔÇ×┬ós mortgage lenders. The investor selloff wiped clean three days of otherwise solid gains for bank stocks and shares, which deflated on news that troubled economic heavyweights Greece and Italy may still tumble.

Stocks and shares for mortgage lenders and homebuilding companies got swept into a market updraft following news reports that major European economies had agreed to bail out their Mediterranean counterparts. Several weeks of speculation trail the news, with investors fleeing, then returning to shares and stocks on wobbly notions that Europe├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔÇ×┬ós two biggest economies, France and Germany, will pull debt-ridden laggards Greece, Italy, and potentially others away from a default scenario.

In yet another blow to major mortgage lenders, two brokers unveiled suits Monday against a string of companies alleging the defendants bilked veterans out of millions by hiding illegal fees under other charges for their refinance loans. Quickly emerging as a hot-button topic inside the Beltway, with some pointing fingers at federal agencies, the suit joins a pack of other litigation on the way for big banks. The matter involves the Interest Rate Reduction Refinancing Loans program for veterans.

After a drought for good news, markets and mortgage lenders found reason to celebrate Monday with a late-day flood by investors to their stocks. Confidence-boosting measures by government officials led the charge by investors to lenders like Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase, with central bankers in Europe mustering up an aid package for debt-ridden countries.

In a surprise move, Moody's Investors Service slashed credit ratings for mortgage giants Bank of America, Citigroup, and Wells Fargo Wednesday afternoon, citing concerns that the federal government may not rush to pick up their remains and bail out the institutions in another liquidity crisis. Critics and advocates of the Dodd-Frank Act used the downgrades to alternately justify the legislation or undermine it in the national square. The downgrades arrive amid a slew of bad times for the nation├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔÇ×┬ós largest mortgage lenders.

With fears on the rise about a Greek default, stocks for U.S. companies and lenders fell around midday Monday. Speaking with MReport, federal regulatory agencies downplayed the fears despite quarterly numbers that found an expansion in lending volume between wobbly euro zone and U.S. financial institutions over the first quarter. New worries about a spreading debt contagion arose over the weekend when European Union officials reached an impasse in bailout talks.

Even as the good news emerged that fewer banks are failing countrywide, Bloomberg News found that the nation's biggest lenders have lost some $65.7 billion in bad mortgage-backed securities, with billions in the red. A number of suits by mortgage lenders, one against the other, plus a barrage of action to recover losses for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac suggest more losses may be in store for U.S. financial institutions. Market watchers disagree over whether culpability is needed in lieu of the bad economy.