The Lede

Reuters, Jan. 25, 2016--Lampert, Allison; Mouallem, Omar Foreign investors are snapping up ski chalets and commercial properties in Canada as a drop in the nation's sagging currency in the past two years means their money buys much more.

National Real Estate Investor, Jan. 25, 2016--Mellen, Chris These are good times, redefined, brought into high-definition, so to speak, in three areas directly impacting commercial real estate: the nature of opportunity, the oddity of our economy and the growing threat of terrorism.

BloombergBNA, Jan. 25, 2016--Bater, Jeff (Banking Daily) The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is running out of time before the 2016 election could bring a possible change in direction--or an entirely new structure should Republicans take the White House.

HousingWire, Jan. 25, 2016--Swanson, Brena Originally, Citizens Financial Group planned to add 350 mortgage lenders, giving it a total of 700, by the end of 2016. But the goal failed to fully account for the impact of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's TILA-RESPA Integrated Disclosures rule that went into effect in October.

Bloomberg, Jan. 25, 2016--Verhage, Julie Global equities have started 2016 by falling within points of a bear market, and a number of market participants are now asking whether this is just a blip on the way higher or the start of something worse-such as the onset of an economic downturn in the U.S. 

Bloomberg, Jan. 25, 2016--Jackson, Anna-Louise It wouldn't take much to look at the performance of markets these days and draw the conclusion that investors deem a U.S. recession as all but inevitable. A deeper dive finds a more benign scenario. 

Reuters, Jan. 25, 2016--Ahmann, Timothy The U.S. Federal Reserve said on Monday its policy meeting set for Tuesday and Wednesday would go forward as scheduled despite an ongoing cleanup in Washington after a major snowstorm.

The Mortgage Reports, Jan. 25, 2016 The U.S. government has expanded its access to mortgage- and downpayment-assistance loan programs and huge swaths of the country are now eligible.

Wall Street Journal, Jan. 26, 2016--Glazer, Emily; Ensign, Rachel Louise Huntington Bancshares said it would acquire FirstMerit Corp. for $3.4 billion in stock and cash in a tie-up of two Ohio-based lenders.

Wall Street Journal, Jan. 25, 2016--Fitzgerald, Patrick J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. has agreed to pay the remnants of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. $1.42 billion in cash to settle most of the failed investment bank's lawsuit over claims that J.P. Morgan illegally siphoned billions of dollars from Lehman before its collapse.

Wall Street Journal, Jan. 26, 2016--Hufford, Austen In the latest settlement stemming from the financial crisis, J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. agreed to pay bond insurer Ambac Financial Group Inc. $995 million to settle lawsuits alleging it misrepresented the quality of mortgages backing hundreds of securities it insured.

MBA Education presents Mortgage Banking Bound--Careers in Mortgage Lending, with upcoming courses this winter.