Government

The Corvus Group, a Washington, D.C.-area firm with nearly $10 billion of real estate assets under management from failed banks, has formed a Troubled Asset Advisory Group (Corvus TAAG). The group, based in Chicago, says it provides specialized staffing and advisory services to companies involved with troubled and distressed commercial real estate and homebuilder/residential development debt.

U.S. Bancorp announced Monday that its lead bank, Minneapolis-based U.S. Bank N.A., was selected by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to act as administrator and closing agent for the federal government's temporary credit and liquidity program and the new issuance bond program for state and local housing finance agencies (HFAs).

Most large banks have stopped tightening standards on a number of loan types, according to a new report from the Federal Reserve. But the central bank's latest loan officer survey says that while it may not be getting tougher for consumers to borrow, it's not getting any easier yet either because financial institutions have yet to unwind the considerable contraction that has built up over the past two years. Still, the pause in the stiffening might be seen as a hopeful sign for a financing world that's been strained since 2007.

The California State Department of Real Estate (DRE) says it revoked a record number of real estate licenses in 2009, and accepted another record number of license surrenders from real estate professionals facing disciplinary action. All told, over 775 licensees in the state had their license revoked or simply surrendered their license while facing accusations last year.

President Obama released his budget for fiscal year 2011 on Monday, and as expected, it includes a proposal for a hefty tax on big banks - a fee intended to recoup taxpayer dollars that the government shelled out to pull the financial system back from the brink of collapse. If approved by Congress, the levy would go into effect on June 30, 2010, but it's a touchy subject for the big guys since most of them have repaid their capital injections in full and the Treasury has already said it expects to turn a $19 billion profit from its bailout investments in banks.

Following a review by HUD, Chicago Bancorp, an independent mortgage bank based in Chicago, will be permitted to underwrite and close mortgage loans without prior HUD review, according to an announcement Monday by the bank. Participation in the Direct Endorsement Program is a privilege accorded only to mortgagees who continue to demonstrate the ability to originate mortgage loans in according with HUD underwriting policy, the federal agency said.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) recently released its monthly Foreclosure Prevention Report, which summarizes loss mitigation activity for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Under the administration's Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP), the GSEs have initiated 43,000 permanent modifications and 442,500 active trials. FHFA also reported that in 2009, the two companies refinanced more than 4 million loans for struggling homeowners.

Already the number of regional bank failures has begun to mount, with regulators stepping in to close the doors on six institutions over the weekend - two in Georgia and one each in California, Florida, Minnesota, and Washington. Just one month into the year, and the number of 2010 bank collapses sits at 15. This latest round of closures is expected to cost the FDIC another $1.85 billion.

Defaults on home loans held by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac continue to climb, but the two aren't taking the losses lying down. The GSEs' forced banks to buy back $7 billion in soured loans during the first nine months of 2009, and it's the largest lenders that are taking the biggest hit. A growing number of community banks, on the other hand, are seeing interest from discerning buyers for assets already identified as ""bad loans,"" and they're shrinking their nonperforming portfolios by as much as 80 percent with one sale.

A federal judge in New York has thrown out a lawsuit against Standard & Poor's and Moody's brought by investors who claim the ratings agencies defrauded them on nearly $100 billion in mortgage-backed securities (MBS) issued by the now defunct Lehman Brothers Holdings, Inc. back in 2007.