Government

On Wednesday, the Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS) – the primary regulator of federal savings holding companies and thrifts, including the nation’s largest banks and mortgage lenders – called on the more than 800 OTS-regulated institutions to suspend foreclosures on owner-occupied homes until the Financial Stability Plan’s home loan modification program is finalized.

Congressional leaders have announced that negotiations between House and Senate officials over the terms of the economic stimulus package have led to a sooner-than-expected compromise. The new bill, now pared down to $789 billion, will be put to the House for a final vote on Thursday, sent to the full Senate on Friday, and make it to President Obama’s desk for his signature by President’s Day next Monday, government officials said.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner outlined the Obama administration’s economic recovery strategy on Tuesday – dubbed the Financial Stability Plan – and on Wednesday, Geithner was called before Congress to defend the tactics he proposed.

According to a panel of financial experts at the 2009 Economic and Investment Forecast Dinner in Los Angeles last week, more pain lies ahead for the U.S. and global economies as they adjust from a long period of credit-fueled prosperity to a new era in which both economic growth and investment returns are likely to be lower.

Chicago-based Performance Trust Investment Advisors, LLC, a banking and investment advisory firm, has created a virtual forum at a new Web site (marktomarketdebate.com) to help the financial sector and the public better understand how fair value standards, also known as mark-to-market, and related accounting and bank regulatory rules impact bank lending.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner laid out the new administration’s highly-anticipated blueprint for the nation’s economic recovery Tuesday morning in Washington. In his remarks, Geithner said, The financial system is working against recovery, and that’s the dangerous dynamic we need to change.

The U.S. Senate voted 61-to-37 to approve an $838 billion stimulus package on Tuesday. Dissension over the bill fell largely along party lines. Next come negotiations with the House, who approved their own version of the stimulus in late January, with an $820 billion price tag.

New legislation has been introduced to the U.S. Senate that would prevent financial holding companies and national banks from engaging, directly or indirectly, in real estate brokerage or real estate management activities.

In the midst of continuing media coverage surrounding U.S. banks’ failure to lend and their use of federal bailout money, Anthony J. Carfang and Cathryn R. Gregg of Chicago-based Treasury Strategies, Inc.

The Texas Bankers Association (TBA), the largest and oldest state banking association in the nation, has expanded its endorsement of Wolters Kluwer Financial Services’ regulatory compliance and risk management solutions to include several of the company’s mortgage compliance documentation solutions.