Tag Archives: Company News

The U.S. job market has continued to make headlines during recent months as high unemployment numbers persist in many areas around the country. A study by Accounting Principals, an accounting and financial staffing firm, combined statistics gleaned from the company's internal data, as well as information on the nation's current volume of jobs openings and general economic conditions in the regions observed to establish which cities are likely to be most lucrative for job seekers in the finance field.

Lenders utilizing the MarksmanLMP platform from Mortech, Inc., are set to gain an advantage when analyzing a borrower's credit score. The company recently announced that it would add a credit report solution to the technology module that will provide faster access to information on potential consumers.

In Georgia, credit unions are experiencing growth thanks to attractive terms for borrowers. According to the Georgia Credit Union Affiliates (GCUA), the state recorded a 3.3 percent uptick in membership during 2011. The rise in membership represents a 1 percent improvement over credit union growth for 2010. Georgia residents moving their business to the credit union sector cited lower fees and better interest rates for many services as the chief catalysts behind their decision to pursue membership.

Prompting the delay of the company's annual meeting, CoreLogic has announced its intention to add new, independent members to its board of directors. The decision represents the continuation of CoreLogic's initiative to bolster its board, which the company previously put on hold in order to conduct a strategic review process. Giving the company's nominating and corporate governance committee sufficient time to consider the potential additions to the board, CoreLogic will postpone its annual stockholders meeting until the summer of 2012.

On the West Coast, Washington Mutual, Inc., has finalized the company's Chapter 11 restructuring process. The financial institution announced the completion of its proceedings under Seventh Amended Joint Plan of Affiliated Debtors Pursuant to Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code, which became effective on March 19. Under the plan, WMI will begin the distribution of an estimated $7 billion in funds to parties-in-interest as related to their allowed claims. WMI will move forward with the distribution of substantially all of the stock.

Standard and Poor's has revealed the inaugural winners of its recently launched SPIVA Awards program. The new initiative is granted by S&P Indices, and the organization plans to extend the awards, which honor excellence in research on the topic of index-related applications, on an annual basis. This year's first place SPIVA Award recipients are Yuliya Plyakha, Grigory Vilkov and Raman Uppal, and the team of researchers was selected for the $50,000 prize based on their comprehensive, comparative evaluation of equal-weighted portfolios and value-and-price weighted portfolios within Standard and Poor's Indices.

PNC Financial Services Group completed the acquisition of RBC Bank, reopening more than 400 branches across six Southeastern states as PNC banks. At 415 branches, this was PNC's single largest conversion occurring at one time. Former RBC branches were in business March 5 as PNC Banks in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia. The conversation also involved the transition of 900,000 customers. The Pittsburgh-based bank now has 2,900 locations across 19 states and the District of Columbia, according to a company release.

JPMorgan Chase has finalized a deal that puts an end to mortgage fraud allegations that created critical headlines for the bank. The company announced on Tuesday that it has reached a settlement in a lawsuit that accused Chase of refinancing fraud against military veterans and taxpayers. In total, Chase will pay the federal government $45 million to conclude the legal issue, which sought to bring the bank to justice for hiding illegal fees within home mortgage refinancing transactions for veterans.

Standard & Poor's Tuesday Webinar provided insight into a key industry question - "Is the housing market bottoming out?" The broad inquiry served as the title for S&P's web-based presentation, which included contributing analysts Beth Ann Bovino, Erkan Erturk, and Valerie White. Offering their take on the current state of U.S. real estate, the participants discussed home pricing, the return of the private-label securitization market, not-for-profit housing, corporate homebuilders, and the nation's housing agencies.

National homebuilder KB Home is partnering with Nationstar Mortgage to offer financing on its homes. KB Home announced Nationstar as its preferred mortgage lender this week, noting, "The agreement with Nationstar is intended to offer KB Home customers a seamless home buying experience, from purchase and mortgage application to picking up the keys to their new home." Nationstar's broad national presence was a major catalyst behind the establishment of the partnership with the homebuilder.