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80 Retirement System of Mississippi, to resolve claims the firm misled investors as to the quality of RMBS it sold before the financial crisis. New York Appeals Court Approves Bank of America's $8.5 Billion RMBS Settlement A New York appeals court approved in full Bank of America's $8.5 billion settlement with investors over the packaging and selling of faulty residential mortgage-backed securi- ties by its Countrywide unit in the run-up to the financial crisis, according to multiple media reports. e settlement was originally reached in June 2011. An appeals court ruling in March reversed a decision a New York State Su- preme Court judge made in January 2014 that Bank of America did not have to repurchase the faulty loans because the trustee, Bank of New York-Mellon, did not evaluate them properly. e judge wrote in the March ruling that the settlement was legal and BNY Mellon showed "no indication that it was acting in self-interest or in the interests of Bank of America rather than that of the certificate holders." According to reports, BNY-Mellon at- tempted to have the settlement approved in 2011, but was blocked by American Interna- tional Group (AIG) over concerns of investor losses. AIG later sued Bank of America for $10 billion but settled with the bank for $650 million in July 2014, after which AIG with- drew its objection to the settlement. In all, the settlement included 22 institu- tional investors, which included BlackRock, MetLife, and Allianz SE's Pacific Invest- ment Management, according to reports. e investors claimed to suffer huge losses after much of a $174 million bundle of securities issued by Countrywide before the financial crisis later went into default. A Bank of America spokesman declined to comment when reached by email. Bank of America's January 2008 acquisi- tion of the then-biggest residential mortgage lender in the nation, Countrywide Home Loans, for $4.1 billion has since cost the megabank at least $60 billion in settlements and legal expenses, including a record $16.65 billion settlement with the Department of Justice in August 2014 over the sales of faulty securities leading up to the financial crisis. e bank also agreed to pay $10 billion to Fannie Mae in January 2013 over similar issues. Ocwen Teams With Housing Group to Aid Distressed New York Homeowners Ocwen Financial Corp., found trouble in New York last year when a top regula- tor's investigation revealed the servicer sent erroneously dated correspondence to about 7,000 borrowers. Last month, however, Ocwen made positive news in New York when it teamed with Neighborhood Housing Services (NHS) of New York city to reach out to aid struggling homeowners who were at risk of foreclosure. On Saturday, March 7, NHS' housing counselors and Ocwen's home retention agents met with distressed Ocwen borrow- ers in the Queens, New York, area for about five hours to discuss loss mitigation plans and foreclosure alternatives. e outreach event was the first in a series of help forums NHS is offering in collaboration with mortgage servicers to help homeowners in the New York city area who are struggling to make mortgage payments. NHS is a HUD-approved counseling agency and a NeighborWorks America-chartered organization with six offices in the New York metropolitan area: East Flatbush, Bedford Stuyvesant, Manhattan (NHSNYC NeighborWorks Homeownership Center), Northern Queens, the North Bronx, and the South Bronx. NHS also has satellite offices in Canarsie, Sheepshead Bay, Brighton Beach, and District Council 37 Union in Manhattan. While exact attendance numbers and summary outcomes for the Queens outreach event were not immediately available, the CEO of NHS of New York City, Bernell Grier, said "this forum met our expectations." She said some borrowers had to cancel due to transportation issues because the subway station nearest to the NHS Northern Queens office was closed due to repairs. "Ocwen was proud to work with the Neighborhood Housing Services of New York City on a solution focused event to assist struggling homeowners," Ocwen said in a prepared statement. "ere are still com- munities that are not sharing in the overall improvement in the economy and many Americans are unable to keep up with their mortgage payments and are at risk of losing their single largest financial asset. Ocwen has helped more than 500,000 American families avoid foreclosure by offering loan modifica- tions and we remain committed to finding solutions in these hard hit areas." According to a press release, Ocwen services about 47,000 active mortgage loans in the New York metropolitan area and has completed more than 8,000 loan modifica- tions out of those active mortgage loans since 2012. Ocwen, which is the nation's largest non-bank, non-government mortgage ser- vicer, has completed more than a half-million permanent loan modifications nationwide, according to the release. "We are excited to host this event with Ocwen because they truly care. ey are willing to come and sit at the table with borrowers to try and find solutions to the challenges they face with their mortgages," said Patricia Primo, NHS homeownership program director, in a press release. "In fact, in our experience, Ocwen's modification style has been one of the most effective at keeping borrowers in their homes. e work they've done has kept families in their homes, and kept neighborhoods intact. at's something that we all can be thankful for." New Residential Acquires HLSS for $1.3 Billion New Residential Investment Corp., and Home Loan Servicing Solutions Ltd., (HLSS) announced a definitive merger agreement. e merger agreement sets for New Residential to acquire all of the out- standing shares of HLSS for $18.25 per share in cash, totaling approximately $1.3 billion. e purchase price represents a 9 percent premium to HLSS' closing price of $16.76 on Friday, February 20. e CEO of New Residential, Michael Nierenberg, said he was pleased to announce the transaction with HLSS. "e acquisition will significantly add to the value of our book of mortgage servic- ing assets and expand our relationships with mortgage servicers to include both Nation- star Mortgage and Ocwen Financial Corp., which are the two largest non-bank servicers in the United States," Nierenberg said. "We are confident that this transaction will enhance our earnings growth potential and

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