A look at the stories across HousingWire’s desk during the weekend…with more coverage to come on bigger issues:

The California State Department of Real Estate (DRE) revoked a record number of real estate licenses for cause in 2009. A total of 775 individuals surrendered or had their licenses revoked.

Over the past two fiscal years, the DRE averaged 446 license revocations and 59 license surrenders. License revocations jumped more than 50%, to 672, while license surrenders jumped nearly 80% to 105, the agency said, adding the 122 cases that resulted in license suspensions in 2009 remained relatively unchanged from the 125 license suspensions averaged in the past two fiscal years.

The agency blames the rise to foreclosure rescue and loan modification scams. In 2009, the department initiated more than 2,000 investigations involving loan modification complaints, which represents 25% of all cases set-up.

“What is even more unsettling, a majority of offenders involved in loan modification scams are not even licensed, which limits a consumer’s ability to obtain restitution or verify the legitimacy of a business,” said DRE commissioner Jeff Davi.

The department posts the names of those who receive orders desist and refrain orders and accusations in loan modification complaints along with a copy of the order online to help keep the public informed.

Lloyds Banking Group launched a mortgage backed security (MBS) issuance worth £2.5bn (US$4bn).

The permanent 2010-1 is backed by the Bank of Scotland. The notes will be secured by a portfolio of UK prime residential mortgages originated and serviced by Bank of Scotland’s Halifax brand. It’s reportedly the first US dollar-denominated MBS backed by European assets since July 2007, and also includes sterling and euro tranches. The US tranche is receiving increased demand, and the tranche was increased to £624m from £311.7m.

The deal comes after Lloyd’s September 2009 residential MBS issuance, worth £4bn and was over-subscribed by investors.

Changes in default and roll rate has created a divide among servicers, Barclays Capital (BarCap) wrote in its weekly securitization report. On one end, there are servicers like Countrywide, EMC and the mortgage servicing platform Carrington's purchased from now-bankrupt New Century that have lower constant default rates (CDR) but high delinquency pipelines.

“In the case of Carrington/New Century, the bottleneck in rolls is further down the delinquency pipeline, in the REO bucket. 15% of the outstanding balance for Carrington serviced 2006 subprime deals is in REO, and the current average REO to liquidation lies in the low single digits,” BarCap analysts wrote.

Servicers on the other side are smaller, like Saxon, Litton and in the option adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) universe, Greenpoint and Indymac. These firms push delinquent loans through liquidations at a faster pace.

“Litton and Ameriquest exhibit fairly high CDRs and REO liquidation rates with some moderation in the recent months as REO pipelines have declined. This drop is in line with expectations, as the introduction of HAMP has reduced foreclosure to REO rolls for most servicers,” the analysts wrote. “However, Litton and Ameriquest had started to ramp up their short sale (foreclosure to short sale) and modification (foreclosure to current) program prior to the introduction of HAMP.”

On Friday, six banks failed at an expected cost of $1.86bn. The latest failures bring the total of failed banks to 15 at the close of January. At this point one year ago, only six banks had failed.

The Washington Department of Financial Institutions closed Bainbridge Island, Wash.-based American Marine Bank. The 11 American Marine Bank branches reopened as branches of Tacoma, Wash.-based Columbia State Bank, under the terms of a purchase and assumption agreement between Columbia State and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC). Columbia State Bank will pay the FDIC a 1% premium to assume all of the $308.5m in American Marine deposits and entered into a loss-share transaction on $255.1m of $373.2m of American Marine Bank's assets. The FDIC estimates the failure will cost the Deposit Insurance Fund (DIF) $58.9m.

The California Department of Financial Institutions closed Los Angeles-based First Regional Bank. The eight First Regional Bank branches reopened as branches of Raleigh, NC-based First-Citizens Bank & Trust Company. First-Citizens did not pay the FDIC a premium to assume all of First Regional Bank’s $1.87bn in deposits and agreed to purchase approximately $2.17bn of the failed bank’s $2.18bn in assets. The failure is expected to cost the DIF $825.5m.

The Georgia Department of Banking and Finance closed Cornelia, Ga.-based Community Bank and Trust. The 36 Community Bank branches and Trust will reopen during normal business hours as branches of Orangeburg, SC-based South Carolina Bank and Trust (SCBT). The bank did not pay a premium to assume all of Community Bank and Trust’s $1.11bn deposits and agreed to purchase essentially all of the failed bank's $1.21bn in assets. The failure is expected to cost the DIF $354.5m.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) closed Hallock, Minn.-based Marshall Bank. The three Marshall Bank branches reopen as branches of Cavalier, ND-based United Valley Bank. United Valley will pay a 7.35% premium to assume all of the $54.7m of Marshall Bank’s deposits and will purchase essentially all of the failed bank's $59.9m in assets. The failure is expected to cost the DIF $4.1m.

The OCC also closed Carrollton, Ga.-based First National Bank of Georgia. The bank’s 11 branches reopened as branches of the newly chartered Carrollton, Ga.-based Community & Southern Bank. Community & Southern Bank will pay a 1.25% premium to assume all of First National Bank’s $757.9m in deposits and agreed to purchase essentially all of the failed bank’s $832.6m in assets. The failure is expected to cost the DIF $260.4m.

The Florida Office of Financial Regulation closed Immokalee, Fla.-based Florida Community Bank. The 11 Florida Community Bank branches reopened as branches of Miami-based Premier American Bank. Premier American Bank will pay a 0.4% premium to assume of the failed bank’s $795.5m in deposits and agreed to pay $499.1m of Florida Community Bank’s $875.5m total assets. The failure is expected to cost the DIF $352.6m.

Write to Austin Kilgore.