| Buffet Denies Interest in Countrywide
Shares in Countrywide Financial Corp. fell to a 4-year low Friday after billionaire investor Warren Buffett said he never came close to buying shares in the Calabasas-based lender. Reports surfaced in August that the chairman of Omaha-based Berkshire Hathaway Inc. might buy a stake in the struggling lender. The reports said that Buffett had been increasing his stake in financial services companies with significant exposure to the mortgage market at the time. He was quoted on CNBC saying the worsening credit and housing markets may present some real investment opportunities. Buffett said in an interview late Thursday on Fox Business Network that he never bought any Countrywide stock, and that the company lacked a comprehensive recovery plan that might have attracted him. This news comes after Securities and Exchange Commission said it opened an informal inquiry into stock sales by Countrywide Chief Executive Angelo Mozilo after North Carolinas State Treasurer raised concerns about the timing and frequency of Mozilos trades.
Hope for heavily clipped RAMS Home Loans Group
A VISIBLY uncomfortable John Kinghorn offered a few morsels of positive news to shareholders at RAMS Home Loans Group's annual general meeting yesterday, sending its stock 25 per cent higher. The non-bank lender's founder and chairman, who pocketed $650 million when RAMS listed in July, told shareholders he did not foresee the worst case scenario of a firesale of mortgages from the group's $14.8 billion loan book. "If that happens, touch wood, we're not anticipating that," Mr Kinghorn said at a lightning-fast and surprisingly peaceful 30-minute-long AGM. As expected, RAMS shareholders approved the sale of the group's franchise network and all of the future business it writes to Westpac Bank for a bargain $140 million. However news that RAMS had come closer to securing funding for its existing mortgage book by a February deadline boosted its shares.
Indymac boosts retail bank network
You published an article ("Most lenders accept tough new mortgage rules in Mass.," Jan. 10") that singled out Indymac Bank, the second-largest independent lender in America, as "suspending most lending in the state." As CEO of Indymac's Mortgage Bank, I assure you that while Indymac has suspended some lending through third-party brokers pending clarification of the new state guidelines, we continue to do strong business in the Commonwealth through our growing, 10-branch, 110-person retail lending network, which increased its business in Massachusetts eighteenfold in 2007. We have enjoyed tremendous success in our Retail Lending Group and are committed to growing our retail business in Massachusetts. We look forward to working with the attorney general's office to get clarification on how to prudently lend through third-party mortgage brokers in the state, and it's our goal that, in doing so, we'll be able to resume our wholesale business in Massachusetts soon.
First Commercial Lender in Calyx Network, Silver Hill(R) Makes Program ...
MIAMI, Nov. 7 /PRNewswire/ -- Silver Hill Financial, LLC (www.silverhillfinancial.com), a leading national real estate lender specializing in small-balance commercial loans, is the first commercial lender integrated into the Calyx Network. Silver Hill Financial(R) is now included in the lender category of Calyx's Point(R) loan origination system (LOS) software, the country's leading LOS according to Wholesale Access' Mortgage Broker Study. This milestone is important to mortgage professionals because the integration makes it more convenient to submit commercial loans through a common origination platform. In addition, Silver Hill's inclusion in Point enables an easier transition from residential to small-commercial lending. "Silver Hill is excited to join Calyx in further bridging the gap between residential and small-balance commercial lending," said Joanna Schwartz, Managing Director of Silver Hill(R).
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