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  “Britain’s revenue and customs service is examining allegations that criminals may have used offshore accounts with HSBC, Europe’s biggest bank, to launder money, it confirmed Friday. Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs said in a statement that it had been contacted about a leaked list of the bank’s customers, and accusations in a British newspaperRead more

By Mark Gongloff | huffingtonpost.com “This may be the world’s largest wrist slap. British banking giant HSBC, Europe’s biggest bank, is set to pay $1.9 billion to settle accusations that it didn’t do enough to stop money laundering in its branches, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday. According to the WSJ, the U.S. government could announce theRead more

By TBO.com | “Floridians who lost their homes to foreclosure between January 2008 and December 2011 could recoup some of their money as part of the national foreclosure fraud settlement. About 167,000 Floridians got applications but they need to file them in about a month. “The deadline is Jan. 18th and we realize a lot ofRead more

By Drew Harwell, Times Staff Writer | “In a landmark robo-signing case, a former executive of a Jacksonville mortgage-processing giant faces up to five years in prison after pleading guilty to orchestrating years of fraudulent foreclosure documents, according to a plea deal filed Tuesday in Jacksonville federal court. Lorraine Brown, who headed a Georgia processing firm,Read more

By Toluse Olorunnipa, Times/Herald Tallahassee Bureau | “The forms used by property insurers across the state to calculate insurance discounts for homeowners are seriously flawed and must be completely thrown out, an administrative judge has found in a potentially groundbreaking ruling. The decision could have far-reaching implications for homeowners who receive wind-mitigation discounts for hurricane-resistant measuresRead more

By The Associated Press |   “Home prices stayed flat in Tampa but increased in most major U.S. cities in September, more evidence of a housing recovery that is providing a lift to the fragile economy. Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller reported Tuesday that its 20-city index of home prices rose 3 percent in September compared with theRead more

http://online.wsj.com |  By SARAH E. NEEDLEMAN “The end of the presidential election brings greater certainty to many small-business owners in critical areas from health-care policy to taxes. Here’s a look at what President Barack Obama’s re-election might mean for them: Health Care One campaign issue that business owners likely no longer need to question is theRead more

By Les Christie @CNNMoney “The clock is ticking on a tax break that saves struggling homeowners from paying thousands of dollars to the IRS. If the Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act of 2007 does not get extended by Congress by the end of the year, homeowners will have to start paying income taxes on the portion ofRead more

By Jeff Kearns | Bloomberg.com   “Federal Reserve Governor Elizabeth Duke said pending bank regulations may “seriously” impair mortgage lending by community banks, which play a “significant” role in the market for home loans. Duke, a former community bank executive, said she and other Fed governors, including Chairman Ben S. Bernanke, are concerned about the potential harm from several rules mandatedRead more