Government

CoreLogic and the Urban Institute have formed a strategic alliance to power further economic and social policy research, the two groups announced. Through the alliance, CoreLogic's data will be used to power the research conducted by the Urban Institute's newly formed Housing Finance Policy Center.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) charged the holding company of Fifth Third Bank and its former CFO with improper accounting of commercial real estate loans during the financial crisis. Fifth Third will pay $6.5 million to settle the charges. Former CFO Daniel Poston must pay a $100,000 penalty and has been suspended from practicing as an accountant for any publicly traded or SEC-regulated company.

The former banking regulator overseeing the National Mortgage Settlement has released a summary of the latest reports he filed with a federal court in Washington, D.C. The reports detail the performance of five major servicers in meeting the terms of the agreement reached with 49 state attorneys general and federal officials. Joseph Smith says he's confirmed six fails in the first quarter of 2013 and one in the second quarter.

Hudson & Marshall will auction more than 150 single-family properties for the FDIC using a specially tailored version of the company's online and offline auction process. Five separate auctions will take place from December 4–10 on properties located in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, and North Carolina.

Speaking at an industry symposium recently, Gene Sperling, director of the National Economic Council for the White House, stressed the importance of securitization in the housing market, saying it makes mortgages cheaper and enables banks to free up limited capital to support additional home purchases and other forms of lending. However, he says the current securitization market is in need of major reforms.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have aligned their master policies for mortgage insurance. Among the new requirements incorporated by each GSE are provisions to facilitate faster and more consistent claims processing, specific time frame mandates, and standards for when coverage must be maintained and when it may be revoked. The new policies are expected to take effect in 2014.

To address widespread negative equity, at least 15 cities and counties are considering using eminent domain to seize underwater homes and lower borrowers' mortgage principal balances, according to the Urban Institute. The institute conducted a study to see what commonalities these communities share and found that all 15 suffer from high levels of poverty and unemployment, stagnant incomes, and low housing prices.

For the first time in more than four years, banks insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) reported an annual loss, according to the regulator's Quarterly Banking Profile released Tuesday. At $36 million, the net income of FDIC-insured banks in the third quarter is $1.5 million below earnings reported in the third quarter of last year.

Lenders Compliance Group Inc. announced the appointment of Michael J. Wallace Esq. to the position of director of marketing compliance. Wallace has spent more than 20 years counseling clients on federal and state industry laws and regulations regarding mortgage acts, practices, and marketing.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac announced changes to their Servicing Guides Monday aimed at helping more borrowers avoid foreclosure through short sales and deeds-in-lieu of foreclosure (DILs). Some of the changes are to align with certain Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) rules and regulations that implement the mortgage servicing provisions of the Dodd-Frank Act, and some are simply to ease eligibility requirements for liquidation workout options.