Bernanke: Fed Investigating Foreclosure Irregularities

During a speech before  the Federal Reserve System and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Conference on Mortgage Foreclosures and the Future of Housing Conference in Arlington, Virginia, Fed chairman took the opportunity to begin his remarks by reporting that the Federal Reserve is investigating reported foreclosure irregularities. Below are those opening remarks:

Good morning. It's my pleasure to welcome you to this joint conference of the Federal Reserve System and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). Our program over the next two days will highlight policy-oriented research on U.S. housing and mortgage markets. I would like to thank the many talented people throughout the Federal Reserve System and at the FDIC who have worked together to make this conference a reality.

Before I address the specific topics of this conference, I would like to note that we have been concerned about reported irregularities in foreclosure practices at a number of large financial institutions. The federal banking agencies are working together to complete an in-depth review of practices at the largest mortgage servicing operations. We are looking intensively at the firms' policies, procedures, and internal controls related to foreclosures and seeking to determine whether systematic weaknesses are leading to improper foreclosures. We take violations of proper procedures seriously. We anticipate preliminary results of the review next month. In addition, Federal Reserve staff members and their counterparts at other federal agencies are evaluating the potential effects of these problems on the real estate market and financial institutions.

Get your popcorn ready for this one. It will be interesting to see how the Fed, bought and paid for by the banking elite, will whitewash the banking elites outrageous foreclosure documentation practices (bordering on the criminal).