Tag Archives: Citigroup

Last week, the special inspector general for the Troubled Asset Relief Program, released a report to Congress saying servicers are not doing all they can to help facilitate the process of keeping borrowers in their homes. To date there have been 1,025,907 homeowners rejected for HAMP modifications by the eight largest servicers, and there have been 572,655 canceled trial modifications, which typically occurs because of insufficient documentation, program ineligibility, or because the borrower missed payments.

The passing of the Dodd-Frank Reform Act last summer was hailed as the end of ""too-big-to-fail"" and the end of corporate bailouts. But in a report to be presented to Congress Wednesday, Neil Barofsky, head of the group charged with overseeing the government's handling of the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) says the ""too-big-to-fail"" problem has not been solved; in fact, it's gotten worse, thanks to implicit guarantees that came with the massive bailouts of companies such as Citigroup, AIG, and Bank of America.

A recent report by Institutional Risk Analytics (IRA) says Bank of America and Wells Fargo are two of the most sued financial service firms in the United States. IRA says that mortgage exposure is what is causing these two banks and others in similar situations to be embroiled in so many federal legal cases. In addition, the firm points to the added burden many of these companies are also facing in litigation that will not reach federal court, such as cases involving foreclosure practices.

John Havens, currently CEO of Citi's Institutional Clients Group (ICG), will begin a new role as Citigroup's president and COO. The appointment was part of a broader new management structure announced by the company Wednesday. The financial institution's CEO Vikram Pandit says the new structure will serve the company well as it enters into a ""new phase of responsible and sustained growth.""

Citigroup reported Tuesday morning that it brought in net income of $10.6 billion during 2010. That compares to a loss of $1.6 billion for the 2009 fiscal year. During the last three months of 2010, the financial institution posted net income of $0.04 per share, or $1.3 billion. Total revenue in the fourth quarter was $18.4 billion, down 11 percent from the previous quarter. The company's Q4 numbers missed the market's expectations. MarketWatch cites a FactSet Research poll, in which analysts had forecast profit of $0.08 a share on revenue of $20.6 billion for the fourth quarter.

Recent data from Barclays Capital examines the ramifications of the fourth quarter foreclosure debacles on REO roll rates. Data released Friday shows the foreclosure-to-REO rate dropped 57 percent in judicial states the last few months of 2010, and dropped 42 percent in the non-judicial states. In New York, the roll rate ground to a near stop, dropping a whopping 91 percent in December when compared to the rate from January to October 2010.

In November after the robo-signing scandal broke, New York City Comptroller John C. Liu, on behalf of the New York City Pension Funds, called on the directors at Bank of America, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, and Wells Fargo - which together service more than half of the nation's mortgages - to conduct an independent audit of their foreclosure practices. This week, Liu issued a demand for the banks to immediately follow through on that request, this time backed by 11 major public pension funds from several states.

New data from federal regulators show that the nation's largest banks and thrifts repossessed nearly 187,000 homes during the third quarter of 2010. The number of foreclosures completed during the three-month period is up 57.5 percent from a year earlier. The report shows that new foreclosures initiated also rose to more than 382,000. Although foreclosure activity increased during the quarter, servicers reported almost twice as many home retention actions as completed home forfeiture actions.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is reportedly investigating lenders' procedures for packaging home mortgages into securities bonds for sale to investors. Reuters, citing two sources familiar with the probe, says the SEC sent subpoenas last week to Bank of America, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, and Wells Fargo. The subpoenas focus on the earliest stage of the mortgage securitization process, in particular, the role of master servicers.

CitiMortgage will host a mortgage assistance call-a-thon on Wednesday for customers who have concerns about paying their mortgages. The event begins at 7 a.m. on December 15, and continues until 1 a.m. on the morning of Thursday, December 16, EST. CitiMortgage borrowers can call the company's foreclosure prevention centers for information and advice during these expanded customer service hours. Foreclosure prevention experts will staff the event, but senior managers and supervisors will be on hand to provide additional support.