Jury Acquits Bear Stearns Fund Managers of Securities Fraud

Ralph Cioffi and Matthew Tannin, hedge fund managers at investment bank Bear Stearns, were acquitted of charges relating to alleged securities fraud. in June 2008, Cioffi and Tannin were arrested and processed at Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) headquarters in Manhattan. As HousingWire previously reported, the two Bear Stearns funds managed by both men — the High-Grade [...]

Arizona Bank Launches Origination Platform

First Arizona Savings Federal Savings Bank is creating a residential mortgage origination platform, focused on opportunities in the Western US, with plans to expand nationally. Jeff Walton, the former CEO of Bear Stearns Residential Mortgage and Greg Russell, formerly a managing director of Hudson Advisors, the asset management operation for Lone Star Funds will head National [...]

VIEWPOINT: You’d Think the Fed Was the Bastille

The amount of vituperative speech and ambient hate in public “debate” has led me to strictly ration my daily dose of “the news.” So I might be the last person in America to have noticed that the left and right fringes have finally found a cause that unites them. It’s “Audit the Fed.” Right and [...]

Monday Morning Cup of Coffee

A look at the stories on HousingWire’s weekend desk…with more coverage to come on bigger issues: Monday marks the year anniversary of the collapse of securities firm Lehman Brothers, an event widely considered the christening failure of the current crisis. The American Bankers Association, in light of the anniversary, launched a new page on its Web [...]

Real Estate Industry Getting Creative with Financing Sources

The real estate industry is beginning to find creative solutions around funding shortfalls as it faces the current liquidity crisis. As lending becomes more scarce and increasingly expensive, some segments of the mortgage market are turning to securitization for liquidity. For example, servicing advance facilities are becoming increasingly popular as a type of financing within the [...]

Bernanke Sees Foreclosures Peaking in H209

US and international efforts to stem the recession are starting to take hold and the pace of economic decline seems to have slowed, but foreclosures and unemployment won’t peak until the second half of 2009 (H209), according to Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke. Continued measures, like a extremely low federal funds rate, will be needed to [...]

Moody’s Downgrades $7.6bn of Jumbo RMBS

[Update 1 reflects downgrades of BofA and RFMSI RMBS tranches] Moody’s Investor Service took the red pen to 344 tranches of 61 residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) backed by jumbo loans in excess of the conforming loan limit ($729,750). Together the relevant downgraded RMBS totals $7.59bn. Moody’s downgraded $4.25bn of jumbo RMBS issued by Wells Fargo. The ratings agency [...]

Viewpoint: Skin in the Game, or Baby and Bathwater?

(Update 1; adds clarifications) In what’s affectionately being called “Obama Wednesday” in some quarters, details of what’s being billed by a breathless press as “the most sweeping financial reform proposal since the 1930s” are not surprisingly already beginning to leak out. But what’s being leaked thus far isn’t really breathtaking, or even new-ish. The latest details, [...]

Fed’s Tarullo: Stunted Growth Without Regulation

Despite the green shoots spotted across the economy — recently by US Treasury secretary Tim Geithner — a long road remains before recovery, and the only thing powerful enough to sustain growth just might be tighter government regulation. That is, according to one Federal Reserve Board member, Daniel Tarullo. In a speech given earlier today, he [...]

The Sweet Sounds of Smooth Jazz and Corporate Responsibility

Party? HousingWire loves parties! And here’s why: It’s a gloomy state of affairs across the pond, with news that the Global ABS 2009 conference held earlier this week at the Hilton London Metropole was distinctly party-free. A shame, since this annual meeting used to be more about the evening than the day seminars. Held last year in Cannes (also [...]

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