Ocwen Responds to Mortgage-Investor Criticism

In an escalation of its fight with a group of large mortgage investors, Ocwen Financial Corp. issued a lengthy rebuttal of claims that the company was responsible for poor mortgage-servicing practices.

In a letter disclosed Monday, Ocwen rejected efforts the investors are making to remove the firm as the servicer of billions of dollars of mortgage pools.

“Ocwen has explored and identified untenable legal arguments and factual misapprehensions underlying” the investor claims, Ocwen’s general counsel wrote to trustees who will examine both sides’ arguments.

Read on.

Up Next on the GOP’s To-Do List: Selling US National Forests

Truthout:

To prove a point, a conservation group held a mock auction for ownership of the Grand Canyon back in February. At the time, they were trying to provide an example of what would happen to public land if Congress stripped the president’s authority to identify and protect national monuments. While this scenario may seem a bit extreme at the outset, it could actually happen soon with public land – including national forests like Yellowstone, along with many others.

Several parties have drawn up a proposal for the House GOP budget resolution that calls for the seizure and sale of US national forests and public land. Rep. Rob Bishop (R-Utah), chair of the House Natural Resources Committee, believes that control over US public lands should be transferred to the state level. The real kicker is that he demands $50 million in taxpayer funds – yes, you’ll be the one paying for it – to jumpstart these property transfers. This way, they can be done “immediately.” All of this was proposed in a recent memo addressed to the House Budget Committee, explained by none other than Senator Bishop.

The memo claims that public lands “create a burden for the surrounding states and communities,” and his “solution is to convey land without strings to state, local and tribal governments.”

Caught on Tape – SEC Director Grovels for a Private Equity Job for His Teenage Son While Speaking on Panel

The following video clip will make you extremely sick to your stomach. Not that we didn’t already know the U.S. economy is nothing more than a rigged oligarch shell of its former self, but to see SEC Director of the Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations, Andrew Bowden, grovel for a job for his son in front of a private equity industry audience certainly represents a new low.

If you recall, Andrew Bowden was first brought to your attention last year in the post, SEC Official Claims Over 50% of Private Equity Audits Reveal Criminal Behavior, which discussed how Mr. Bowden admitted in a talk that “more than 50 percent of private equity firms it has audited have engaged in serious infractions of securities laws.” This sort of honesty is never rewarded within a crony, corrupt economic system that depends so heavily on regulatory capture for riches. As such, he quickly recognized the gravity of his error, and has since decided to get on his hands and knees and pucker up to the private equity industry whenever possible.

Read on.

House Republicans’ budget plan: Change funding for CFPB and privatize Fannie and Freddie

• House Republicans Budget Plan “A Balanced Budget for a Stronger America,” Would Change Funding for process for Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and Privatize Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (it would also repeal “onerous” policies enacted under Dodd-Frank in 2010)

Warnings Ignored – Ethical Leadership Speaker & Citigroup Whistleblower Richard Bowen

Citigroup whistleblower and ethical leadership speaker Richard Bowen testifies about the corruption that led to the financial meltdown of 2008.

Are the Fed’s Stressed Enough?

MARCH 19, 2015 BY RICHARD BOWEN

The Federal Reserve Board’s annual stress tests, started in 2009, are complex, time consuming and an exacting process. The goal to determine if the banks have enough capital to withstand the impact of adverse developments and still remain viable. The tests start with the developing and publishing of 3 economic scenarios that demonstrate various degrees… [Read More]

Bankers are complaining — again — about too much regulation

The term “regulatory capture” refers to what happens when regulators swim so close to the companies they regulate that they get snared in those companies’ gravitational fields. What results is tolerant, indulgent regulation, or none at all. For a good example, think of banking regulation before 2008. The result of regulators seeing things the banks’ way: the 2008 financial crisis and a long, deep recession.

Regulatory capture has come up in public discussions three times in recent days: a top banking industry lawyer says it’s a “myth”; a top banking regulator says there’s still too much of it; and a top securities regulator may have inadvertently provided a great example of it.

Taking aim at “the myth of regulatory capture,” he continued: “Recently, this supposition of regulatory capture has become as pervasive as it is false…. I have never experienced a situation that an examiner was so close to an institution that the examiner went easy on that institution.” Sharing the dais with him at the time were representatives of the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and the industry self-regulator Finra, the Journal reported.

Cohen’s concern is that regulators desperate to disprove the “myth” will be especially, and unreasonably, hard on the banks, which will only make regulation less effective and, of course, make it harder for banks to do business.

Read on.