Alt-A: the forgotten segment of the mortgage market

This study presents a brief overview of the Alt-A mortgage market with the goal of outlining broad trends in the different borrower and mortgage characteristics of Alt-A market originations between 2000 and 2006. The paper also documents the default patterns of Alt-A mortgages in terms of the various borrower and mortgage characteristics over this period.Mortgages ; Subprime mortgage

Foreign entry and bank competition

Foreign entry and bank competition are modeled as the interaction between asymmetrically informed principals: the entrant uses collateral as a screening device to contest the incumbent's informational advantage. Both better information ex ante and stronger legal protection ex post are shown to facilitate the entry of low-cost outside competitors into credit markets. The entrant's success in gaining borrowers of higher quality by offering cheaper loans increases with its efficiency (cost) advantage. This paper accounts for evidence suggesting that foreign banks tend to lend more to large firms thereby neglecting small and medium enterprises. The results also explain why this observed "bias" is stronger in emerging markets.Bank competition ; Credit control

Did prepayments sustain the subprime market?

This paper demonstrates that the reason for widespread default of mortgages in the subprime market was a sudden reversal in the house price appreciation of the early 2000's. Using loan-level data on subprime mortgages, we observe that the majority of subprime loans were hybrid adjustable rate mortgages, designed to impose substantial financial burden on reset to the fully indexed rate. In a regime of rising house prices, a financially distressed borrower could avoid default by prepaying the loan and our results indicate that subprime mortgages originated between 1998 and 2005 had extremely high prepayment rates. However, a sudden reversal in house price appreciation increased default in this market because it made this prepayment exit option cost-prohibitive.Subprime mortgage

Corporate response to distress: evidence from the Asian financial crisis

This paper provides a comprehensive examination of the ways in which companies respond to a country-wide crisis through the restructuring of their assets (through asset sales, mergers or liquidations) or liabilities. We find the restructuring of liabilities to be the most common type of response. On the other hand, we argue that firms may be reluctant to engage in major asset sales due to substantial price discounts that need to be applied to these transactions during the crisis. In fact, we document that transaction multiples dropped by 40% during the crisis, compared to a pre-crisis period. We contrast financial and corporate governance considerations and find strong support for the notion that, during a crisis, financial constraints have a large impact on the restructuring choice. However, we find corporate governance (e.g., control) considerations to matter only marginally both in statistical and economic terms.Corporate governance ; Financial crises - Asia

Corporate response to distress: evidence from the Asian financial crisis

This paper provides a comprehensive examination of corporate responses to financial distress during an economy-wide crisis, specifically through the restructuring of assets (through asset sales, mergers, or liquidations) and/or liabilities. Using firm-level data from five countries hardest hit by the East Asian financial crisis of 1997-98, this study contrasts the effects of financial and corporate governance variables on restructuring choices. The study finds that, during a crisis, financial constraints and corporate governance each have a large effect on the restructuring choice.Financial crises - Asia ; Corporate governance

Credit scoring and loan default

This paper introduces a measure of credit score performance that abstracts from the influence of “situational factors.” Using this measure, we study the role and effectiveness of credit scoring that underlied subprime securities during the mortgage boom of 2000-2006. Parametric and nonparametric measures of credit score performance reveal different trends, especially on originations with low credit scores. The paper demonstrates an increasing trend of reliance on credit scoring not only as a measure of credit risk but also as a means to offset other riskier attributes of the origination. This reliance led to deterioration in loan performance even though average credit quality—as measured in terms of credit scores— actually improved over the years.Credit scoring systems ; Mortgage loans

The LIBOR-OIS spread as a summary indicator

Money market

Some closure on foreclosures?

Contrary to popular perception, the foreclosure process can be very costly for a lender…it remains a puzzle as to why such large numbers of mortgages in default enter into foreclosure in the first place.Foreclosure ; Housing ; Mortgages

A closer look at house price indexes

At least early in the financial crisis, the high rate of foreclosures seemed to be due more to households' overreaching than to predatory lending. A disproportionate number of those being foreclosed on were well-educated, well-off and relatively young people.Housing - Prices

Access to credit

Credit