Subprime
RBA’s Ellis: build more houses
Reserve Bank of Australia financial stability head Luci Ellis says more housing needed to offset rapid rise in house prices
Bini Smaghi defends ECB policy to dump rating agencies
ECB board member Lorenzo Bini Smaghi attacks rating agencies for role in Greek debt crisis
Philly Fed blames subprime crisis on bankruptcy reform
Philadelphia Federal Reserve study shows reform to homeowner bankruptcy rules caused default rates to rise during subprime mortgage crisis
Atlanta Fed: subprime bubble linked to numeracy
Atlanta Federal Reserve study shows people with limited numerical skills are more likely to default on their mortgage
Too-big-to-fail matters for macroprudence
Federal Reserve Board research looks at the dynamics of spillover effects of the global financial crisis to Asia and Pacific region
Traders’ inventories affect market liquidity
Philadelphia Federal Reserve investigates how holdings of mortgages will affect traders’ propensity to buy and sell further
Bailout announcements agitated markets, shows IMF study
IMF working paper shows bailout decisions aggravated inter-bank markets, and argues for a coordinated policy response to restore global confidence
China not sheltered from subprime
International Monetary Fund says China’s stock market is affected by the US subprime crisis
Lender recourse increases the likelihood of default
Richmond Federal Reserve shows the impact of lender recourse on mortgage defaults
Labour productivity fosters booms
New York Federal Reserve shows labour productivity helps create bubbles
US policymakers should implement Brady Plan-like measures
Boston Federal Reserve shows that lessons from the Latin American debt crisis can be applied to the US credit securitisation markets
Nonprime borrowers in negative equity are alike
New York Federal Reserve research explores common characteristics of nonprime borrowers in negative equity
Markets bought Paulson "teaser freezer" plan
Research from the Richmond Federal Reserve shows that investors were initially optimistic that former US Treasury secretary Hank Paulson's so-called "teaser freezer" plan would improve economic conditions.
Foreclosures a worry in NY state
The number of home mortgages in foreclosure in upstate New York continues to be a concern, notes a report from the New York Federal Reserve.
AIG cited as case for shadow-bank rules
The American International Group (AIG) situation highlights the need for strong, effective consolidated supervision of all systemically-important financial firms, said Ben Bernanke, the chairman of the Federal Reserve.
Fed's Braunstein urges caution on lending rules
Any new laws on lending practices need to carefully target abuses without unduly restraining responsible credit, said Sandra Braunstein, the director of the division of consumer and community affairs of the Federal Reserve.
Multi-family subprime borrowers should owe less
Multi-family property owners with subprime mortgages should receive a writedown of a proportion of the principal balance on their loan, argues a new paper from the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta.
Was subprime possible to predict?
Research by the Boston Federal Reserve finds that market participants should have predicted the steep rise in foreclosures that occurred in 2007 and 2008.
The risks are justified: SNB's Hildebrand
The current crisis is the most complex and the most serious of the post-war period, and demands unconventional action from the Swiss authorities, said Philipp Hildebrand, a member of the governing board at the Swiss National Bank (SNB).
Fed paper on subprime mortgages
This Federal Reserve working paper models the historical default and prepayment behaviour for subprime mortgages using data on securitised mortgages originated from 2000 to 2007.
Productivity slump triggered subprime woe
The downturn in the US housing sector was triggered by a productivity slowdown that begun in 2004, finds a new paper from the New York Federal Reserve.
We will need counter-cyclical rules: King
Mervyn King, the governor of the Bank of England, indicated on Monday that Britain could push ahead in implementing its own counter-cyclical capital requirements to prevent another subprime debacle.
House-price fall precipitated subprime collapse
The reason for the raft of subprime defaults was a sudden fall in house prices, which made prepayment of loans a less attractive option, finds research from the St Louis Federal Reserve.