State and federal regulators stepped in late Friday to shut down two lenders - First Commercial Bank of Tampa Bay in Florida and McIntosh State Bank in Jackson, Georgia. The closings bring the number of financial institutions on the FDIC's failed bank list to 47 for the 2011 calendar year and are expected to cost the federal agency $108.5 million.

As it peels back the layers of the secondary market to delve deeper into the trading of the subprime mortgage bonds reputed for setting off the financial crisis, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has set its sights on major credit ratings agencies. The SEC is considering bringing civil fraud charges against Standard & Poor's and Moody's Investors Service for their role in positioning mortgage-backed securities that held a high risk of default as grade-A investments.

The American Bankers Association has sent a letter to key lawmakers in the Senate, urging them to reject foreclosure legislation proposed by Sens. Jeff Merkley and Olympia Snowe. Their bill, tagged the Regulation of Mortgage Servicing Act, has been introduced as an amendment to a larger economic development bill being considered. It mandates an independent, third-party case review prior to foreclosure, among other things, and the bankers group says it would prolong the market correction by slowing down legitimate foreclosures.

Mortgage insurer PMI has announced the launch of a new program to identify mortgage servicers who score high marks for keeping borrowers in their homes. These companies will benefit from certain advantages when doing business with PMI. The company has identified certain servicing best practices that play a central role in maximizing home retention and achieving positive results for borrowers, communities, and mortgage investors, alike, and PMI says servicers who follow these practices should be recognized.

Vicki Bott, HUD's deputy assistant secretary for single-family housing, is departing the federal agency, a HUD spokesperson has confirmed. Bott joined HUD in September 2009, just as the administration was knee-deep in ramping up and rolling out a host of programs to address the nation's raging foreclosure crisis. At HUD, Bott was responsible for the direction and management of all single-family Federal Housing Administration (FHA) mortgage insurance programs, including the disposition of repossessed homes.

Ongoing deterioration in real estate markets and rising levels of distressed residential and commercial properties are areas of acute concern for officials at the Federal Reserve, as banks' performance and capital continue to be adversely affected. Renewed concerns have surfaced about the health of the mortgage market and home equity loans in particular, while high vacancy rates and declining rents still plague the commercial sector. The Fed says it will take time to make progress on the overhang of distress, and banks should expect continuing losses.

ISGN Solutions Inc., a provider of technology solutions and services to the U.S. mortgage industry, has hired Scott Slifer as its new president of sales and marketing. Slifer brings over 22 years of financial services industry experience to the company, including 16 years in housing finance and technology. He was previously SVP of business development and marketing with Altisource Portfolio Solutions and also held positions at Citi, ABN AMRO, and Freddie Mac.

Experts blame the massive inventory of existing homes on the market for hindering the housing sector's recovery. The overhang has been inflated by large volumes of foreclosures, and it's expected to grow with millions more coming down the pipeline. One economist says it will take 6.5 million new household formations to absorb the excess inventory. He expects it will take five years to achieve that goal and emerge from the self-defeating cycle of oversupply pushing prices down, the negative equity triggering defaults, and in turn, further increasing the oversupply.

Freddie Mac released its weekly survey of mortgage interest rates Thursday, which showed that the 30-year rate edged up 1 basis point while the 15-year rate dropped 1 basis point. The GSE's measurements for adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs) - which have been gaining popularity among some borrowers - mirrored the same, with rates on the 5-year ARM slipping and the 1-year ARM rising slightly.

RealtyTrac released a new report Thursday detailing foreclosure activity for the month of May. Filings dropped 2 percent from April and were down 33 percent from a year earlier. RealtyTrac attributed the decline to ongoing processing delays stemming from last fall's documentation issues. But the company says it's seeing hints of renewed activity, with spikes in various stages of the foreclosure process in some states. Georgia, for example, saw a 79 percent increase in new REOs last month.