Category Archives: Credit markets

Libor Investigation Extended to US Mortgages, but What About TALF Loans?

A good report by Shahien Nasiripour recounts that the OCC has woken up to what a hot potato the Libor scandal has become, and has identified the mortgages that might (stress might) have been hurt by the rate diddling.

To start with, the universe that might have been affected is not that large. Per the Financial Times account:

The Mortgage Condemnation Plan: Fleecing Municipalities as Well as Investors (Updated)

Beware of financiers bearing gifts.

A scheme proposed by a group called Mortgage Resolution Partners, which is being considered by San Bernardino, CA, to use the traditional power of eminent domain to condemn mortgages, was pretty certain to be a non-starter, so I’ve ignored it. But it’s gotten enough attention to have roused the ire of a whole host of financial services industry lobbying groups, as well as endorsements from Bob Shiller and Joe Nocera, and a thumb’s down from Felix Salmon, so it looked to be in need of serious analysis.

Are the Mice Starting to Roar? Municipalities Turn Defiant with Wall Street

Municipal finance has long been a cesspool. States, towns, hospitals, transit authorities, all have long been ripe for the picking. Sometimes local officials are paid off (anything from cold hard cash to gifts to skybox tickets), but much of the time, there’s no need to go to such lengths, since preying on their ignorance will do. As we’ve pointed out, even though these bodies often hire consultants, those advisors are often either not up to the task (how can people who don’t know finance vet an expert?) and/or have bad incentives (more complicated deals, which are generally more breakage prone, tend to produce higher consulting fees).

Dave Dayen highlighted one example yesterday: the city of Oakland has decided rather than pay $15 million in termination fees to get out of an interest rate swap deal gone bad:

The Eurozone: A Twenty Year Crisis?

As markets quickly shrugged off the news including that of further central bank rate cuts. Spanish bond yields rose over 7%, as Mr. Market clearly wanted a resumption of bond buying or some other decisive action, rather than a mere reduction of its benchmark rate to 0.75%.

Some commentators, such as Edward Hugh, are a bit flummoxed, since the supposed clarification of key points of the deal, most importantly, how and when Spanish banks will get money, has not answered these basic questions. Wolfgang Munchau argues in his current column, “Eurozone crisis will last for 20 years” that the Europatchup of last week wasn’t simply underwhelming, but was a major step backwards.

Eurozone Banking Union: Who Pays for Past Mistakes?

By Daniel Gros, Director of the Centre for European Policy Studies, Brussels. Cross posted from VoxEU

The EZ crisis – born as a debt crisis (Greece) – has grown up into a banking crisis (Ireland, Cyprus, Spain, …). This column argues that Spain is symptomatic of larger banking problems, so the EU Summit decisions on banking union are welcome and critical to any long-term solution. Yet someone must pay for Spanish bank losses. Spanish politics is shielding Spanish creditors, European politics is shielding EZ taxpayers, so the Spanish government will pay – and in doing so may go the way of Ireland. This crisis is far from over.

Former Senior Barclays Staffer Charges Diamond with Lying to MPs in Select Committee Testimony

It’s hardly surprising to think that Barclay’s CEO Bob Diamond shaded the truth more than a tad in his Parliamentary testimony earlier this week. Recall that he said the manipulation was the doing of 14 traders, and in context, he was clearly saying only those 14, their immediate supervisors, and the lax compliance types were at fault out of all of Barclays. The FSA’s letter to Barclays shows that to be untrue. It clearly says “at least” 14 traders were involved, as well as various “submitters” which were in a completely different unit operationally.

The Independent has posted an interview with a former senior executive who calls out Diamond for his biggest howler, that he had no idea that anything untoward was happening until about two weeks ago.

Schneiderman (Technically, Obama) Financial Fraud Task Force Takes Credit for Busting Barclay’s on Libor, Peter Madoff

Normally I try to avoid dumping on the same person twice in a short period of time, no matter how much they deserve it, but a post by masaccio at Firedoglake on the PR exercise known as the Financial Fraud Task Force deserves amplification.

Yes, Virginia, the Real Action in the Libor Scandal Was in the Derivatives

As the Libor scandal has given an outlet for long-simmering anger against wanker bankers in the UK, there have been some efforts in the media to puzzle out who might have won or lost from the manipulations, as well as arguments that they were as “victimless” or helped people (as in reporting an artificially low Libor during the crisis led to lower interest rate resets on adjustable rate loans pegged to Libor; what’s not to like about that?)

What we have so far is a lot of drunk under the streetlight behavior…

Quelle Surprise! GAO Finds Foreclosure “Request a Review” Materials Too Complicated for a Lot of Borrowers

Readers may remember that one of the outcomes of the robosigning scandal was that mortgage servicers entered into consent decrees with the OCC and other regulators in early 2011.

One component of the OCC program was “independent” foreclosure reviews that would be offered to borrowers to determine if they had been harmed by a foreclosure and provide restitution. The servicers were required to do “outreach” to borrowers who might have suffered to give them the opportunity to request a review. You have to understand that this was never a good faith effort, even though HUD secretary Donovan trumpeted these assessments as an important part of “social justice.”

Marshall Auerback: All Roads Lead to the ECB

By Marshall Auerback, a hedge fund manager and portfolio strategist. Cross posted from New Economic Perspectives

We’ve always been a fan of Professor Paul De Grauwe from University of Leuven, who has consistently pointed out the structural flaws inherent in the original structures of the EU. Recently, Professor de Grauwe wrote an excellent analysis explaining why the latest “rescue plan” cobbled together by the Eurozone authorities is destined to fail.

Bob Diamond Performs “Je Ne Regrette Rien”

As much as I would have liked to have seen the Bob Diamond testimony before Parliament yesterday (a previously booked flight ruled that out), I should probably consider myself lucky. Comments by readers and tooth-gnashing reports from the British press indicate that Diamond is an apt student of the well honed CEO practice of shirking responsibility and shameless denials. Those strategies go a long way in stymieing efforts to get insight, at least in the setting of a legislative grilling. Some of it is the time constraints on each interviewer: they can only go so long before they have to turn the mike over to a colleague. I’d love to see a real prosecutor, with the luxury of time and the ability to do serious discovery before deposing executives, go after some of these fearless leaders.

The most theatrical moment of the day appears to have been when MP John Mann went full bore into Diamond.

How the Fannie and Freddie Could, But Won’t, Cut the Housing Gordian Knot

The ongoing, still unresolved issue of the mortgage mess is that irresponsible, unaccountable, self-serving “agents” called servicers manage foreclosures and mortgage modifications. Pretty much anyone who has looked at the problem argues that mortgage modifications to viable borrowers would lead to lower losses to investors and less damage to the housing markets than the Mellonite “Liquidate real estate” program in place now.

The reason we seem unable to get off this destructive path is servicers are paid to foreclose, and not to modify, hence they have set themselves up pretty much only to foreclose.

Mirabile Dictu! Barclays CEO Bob Diamond Resigns Over Libor Scandal (Updated)

Wow, this resignation took place a mere day before the Treasury select committee hearings on Wednesday. The Wall Street Journal bizarrely sent a news alert out announcing the resignation, yet it links to a front page story that is out of date, saying that Diamond “resisted pressure to resign” and has “no plans to leave. FT Alphaville, natch, already has the resignation announcement from the board posted, which clearly shows that Diamond has resigned with “immediate effect” and that the departing chairman, Marcus Aigus, will lead the search for his replacement.

Why the EU Summit Decisions may Destabilise Government Bond Markets

By Paul De Grauwe, Professor of international economics, University of Leuven, member of the Group of Economic Policy Analysis, advising the EU Commission President Manuel Barroso, and former member of the Belgian parliament. Cross posted from VoxEU

Among the questions still remaining since last week’s summit of European leaders is whether the new measures will stabilise government bond markets. This column’s answer is ‘no’.