Industries

Signature Bank in New York reported record profits in the first quarter as strong loan, asset and deposit growth more than offset increased expenses and deterioration in its portfolio of taxi-medallion loans.

Several small and midsize banks generated large year-over-year loan growth despite a belief by some outsiders that a slowdown was looming. Bankers may have to spend coming months assuring investors that they can keep booking loans while adequately managing risk.

WASHINGTON — Michael Wilson officially assumed the titles of president and chief executive of the merged Federal Home Loan Bank of Des Moines on Monday, a little sooner than expected.

Senate Banking Committee Chairman Richard Shelby, R-Ala., is seeking input from the Government Accountability Office and the Congressional Budget Office on the future of policies dealing with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

The National Association of Realtors is teaming up with a coalition of environmental groups, taxpayer advocates and insurance companies to push Congress on flood insurance reforms.

Dime Community Bancshares has agreed to sell its headquarter building in Brooklyn for $12.3 million.

Freedom Mortgage of Mount Laurel, N.J., has agreed to pay $113 million to settle government allegations that it failed to comply with Federal Housing Administration requirements for originating and servicing FHA-insured loans.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development is continuing to reject calls to slash the annual premium for the Federal Housing Administration despite a renewed push by the National Association of Realtors. But some predict the FHA may eventually cave in.

FHFA Director Mel Watt acknowledged that the principal reduction program may seem "too small and too late."

Quicken Loans plans to appeal a recent federal labor ruling that the Detroit lender and other companies owned by Dan Gilbert violated employees' rights.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac's experiments with selling credit risk to investors are a critical element of new plan to merge the two entities and move them out of conservatorship, but what form so-called credit risk transfers take could make a big difference.

The housing market has been improving but mortgage credit remains "stubbornly" tight on loans bought by the government-sponsored enterprises, according to a chief housing adviser at the White House.

The majority of first-time homebuyers plan to skip the starter-home step and move straight into the home that would meet their long-term needs, according to the Homebuyer Insights Report from Bank of America.

The agency's insurance-rate cut could spur the rehab of thousands of affordable units, but it's far from a total solution, housing advocates say.

Third Federal Savings and Loan in Cleveland has long offered mortgage refinancing in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia and North Carolina. Now it plans to offer purchase loans in those states.

JPMorgan Chase has agreed to sell its U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development mortgage origination business to Freedom Mortgage of Mount Laurel, N.J.

The government agency that guarantees securitizations of Federal Housing Administration-insured loans is testing a pool type that consists only of modified and reperforming loans.

Enterprise Bancorp in Lowell, Mass., has purchased the site of a former hotel that recently burned to the ground and plans to put a new branch there.

Bankers are fighting back against a plan that would allow Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to invest in low-income housing tax credits, arguing they are critical for meeting Community Reinvestment Act requirements.

Five policy heavy-hitters issued a proposal this week to merge Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac into a single government corporation as a way to move beyond the conservatorships of the two government-sponsored enterprises.