While the demand for high-quality mortgage-backed securities has been slow since the housing crisis, Fitch said that more major institutional buyers that are hungry for new, higher-yielding investment opportunities have emerged as suitors for bulk NPL pools. Previously, distressed mortgage buyers tended to be specialized alternative investment firms.
Read More »First Quarter Sees Solid Year-Over-Year Revenue Increases for Wells Fargo, Chase
Also, lower gains in private equity partially offset the increase in fee revenue in asset management and mortgage banking Chase received in Q1. Chase's net interest income for Q1 was $11 billion, which was relatively unchanged from Q1 2014.
Read More »Wells Fargo to Close Servicing Site, Lay Off 1,000 Employees
Wells Fargo cited the improving economy in the last two years along with steady declines in delinquencies and fewer borrowers in need of mitigation options to avoid foreclosure as contributing factors to the closing of the Milwaukee office. The bank said the closing will be effective in late July.
Read More »Legislation in Montana Aimed at Reducing Banks’ Liability in Loss Mitigation
Distressed and at-risk Montana homeowners spoke out against the two bills in the state's House Business and Labor Committee on Thursday, claiming that their respective mortgagees had misled them verbally with regards to loss mitigation practices. The borrowers said they would have had no legal claim against those mortgagees if these bills had been in enacted before they filed their respective lawsuits against their lenders.
Read More »Goldman Sachs Reports Slight Increase in Net Income for 2014
New York-based investment bank Goldman Sachs reported a slight year-over-year decline in Q4 2014 net earnings, but for the whole year of 2014 the firm reported a slight uptick from 2013, according to the firm's Q4 and year-end earnings statement released on Friday.
Read More »JPMorgan Chase Reports Record Earnings for 2014; Wells Fargo Net Income Up 5 Percent
Two of the nation's largest mortgage lenders, JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo, reported year-over-year increases in their net incomes for 2014, according to the banks' respective earnings statements released on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase reported a record net income of $21.8 billion for the full year of 2014, up from 2013's net income of $17.9 billion. The firm's earnings per share for 2014 was $5.29, which was also a record (for 2013, earnings per share was $4.35). Revenue experienced s slight decline, however, from $99.8 billion in 2013 down to $97.9 billion in 2014.
Read More »Financial Institutions Account for Much of DOJ’s Record $24.7 Billion in Fines Collected in FY 2014
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced earlier this week that it has issued $24.7 billion in fines and penalties from various organizations for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2014, which was more than three times the $8 billion that DOJ collected for FY 2013. Much of the money collected was a result of enforcement actions by DOJ upon financial institutions for their handling of residential mortgage-backed securities.
Read More »Lawmakers Ask Financial Firms for Information on Data Breaches
Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts) and Congressman Elijah Cummings (D-Maryland) sent letters on Tuesday to 16 financial institutions requesting detailed information regarding data breaches and seeking information about briefings from corporate IT officials, according to an announcement on Warren's web site.
Read More »OCC Releases Evaluations of 36 Financial Institutions; Six Rated ‘Outstanding’
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) this week released its list of Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) performance evaluations that were made public during the month of October 2014 for 36 financial institutions.
Read More »SIGTARP Announces Prosecution of Four Individuals on Fraud Charges
The Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (SIGTARP) has announced the prosecution of four individuals in three separate cases on fraud-related charges against banks that were TARP recipients.
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