Wall Street Journal, Jan. 20, 2016–Zeng, Min
The global scramble to snap up safer assets intensified Wednesday, sending the yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury note below 2% and restoring an unusual situation in which investors willingly pay more for longer-term bonds than for an equivalent series of shorter-term securities.
National Mortgage News, Jan. 20, 2016–Witkowski, Rachel
Overlapping missions and jurisdictions are fueling competition between the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Federal Trade Commission, according to former officials at both agencies.
IndyStar (Indianapolis), Jan. 19, 2016–Eason, Brian
Lawmakers from two of the state’s hardest-hit housing markets–Gary and Indianapolis–have introduced four bills this session targeting urban blight, but those hoping for a major overhaul of Indiana’s distressed property laws will have to wait at least another year.
Wall Street Journal, Jan. 24, 2016–Hayashi, Yuka
Four years after the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s creation, debate still rages over its authority.
New York Times, Jan. 22, 2016–Cohan, William D.
These days, the “too big to fail” banks have less competition than ever, they get their raw material – cash from depositors – nearly free and they have never had more ways to make vast amounts of money.
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.
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.
Wall Street Journal, Jan. 12, 2016–Light, Joe
The Federal Housing Finance Agency said so-called captive insurance companies, which insure the risks of the companies that own them, no longer will be eligible for membership in government-backed federal home loan banks. Mortgage Bankers Association President David Stevens said the rule “removes a vital component of the FHLBank membership which provides liquidity for the real estate finance market.”
