The mortgage industry will take a step toward cleaning up some of its most controversial practices under a deal between a New York regulator and three financial firms, including Goldman Sachs Group Inc.
Under the agreement with the state’s financial-services superintendent, Benjamin M. Lawsky, the three firms—Goldman, its Litton Loan Servicing business and Ocwen Financial Corp.—promised to end so-called robo-signing, in which bank employees signed foreclosure documents without reviewing case files as required by law. They also agreed to comb through loan files for evidence they mishandled borrowers’ paperwork and to cut mortgage payments for some New York homeowners.
There aren’t many regulators saying things that big banks want to hear these days, but they’ll like this: Acting Comptroller of the Currency John Walsh on Tuesday warned international regulators that they may be trying to rein in the financial industry too much.
“We are in danger of trying to squeeze too much risk and complexity out of banking as we institute reforms to addresses problems and abuses stemming from the last crisis,” he said at the Centre for the Study of Financial Innovation in London, according to his prepared remarks.
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