Law Outlines Federal Banking Regulation Outlines
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OTHER CONCEPTS
Shadow Banking System
Features
Similar to traditional banking
Outside regulation
Riskier
Lending Side
Commercial Paper
Unsecured corporate debt (vs. standard secured bank loans)
Alternative to traditional Commercial & Industrial Loans
Short-term (generally 60 days, 90 days, or 120 days)
Cheaper than traditional commercial bank loans
Flexible
Could be rolled over when became due
Restrictive
Only the most credit worthy firms had a market for their CP
Repos
Repurchase Agreements: Sell securities on the balance sheet per contract committing to repurchase said security at a specified time in the future (short-term - usually the next day) at a higher price
They would do this for the purpose of getting short-term liquidity to speculate in an attempt to obtain quick returns on the cash
CONTRAST TO COMMERCIAL BANKS
Banks would use repurchase agreements for the primary purpose of hiding assets on the books right before quarterly evaluations (hide bad loans from regulators)
Deposit Side
Money Market Funds
Securitization
Steps
Step 1: Borrower gets loan
Step 2: Lender sells loan to issuer and borrower begins making payments to servicer (the bank, sometimes the same entity as lender)
Step 3: Issuer creates a Trust (e.g., SIV or SPV) where the loans are pooled and then sells securities to investors
Underwriters assist in sale
Credit Rating Agencies rate the securities
Credit Enhancement may be obtained
Step 4: Servicer collects monthly payments from borrower and remits payments to issuer
The servicer and the trustee manage manage delinquencies per pooling and servicing agreement. The servicer gets paid for the servicing work.
The issued Securities were simply an interest in the income stream from the loans
The securities were tranched whereby each tranche would receive a credit rating
The lower rated tranches were later repooled and sold as CDOs on the theory of diversification
This was a disaster
Uses of Capital
Executive Compensation
Proprietary Trading
Retain as Cushion
Mergers & Acquisitions
Pay Dividends
Stock Buyback
Invest (e.g. Research and Development)
Conventional Activities (e.g. make loans)
FACTORS that Led to the Financial Crisis
Private Label Securitization
Severed the link of accountability to portfolio and GSE loans
Portfolio: If loan stayed on the books, the bank had to bear the risks of default
GSEs: When the banks sold loans to the GSEs for securitization, the loans had to meet strict underwriting standards
Credit Rating Agencies
Compensated by Issuers (perverse incentive)
"Quants" used Flawed Models
Cultural Pressure
People who worked for the rating agencies were often Wall Street rejects and thereby wanted to be accepted by the Wall Street bankers
This caused them to be more likely to succumb to Wall Street's will
Regulatory Failures
competence
information asymmetry
inertia (no one wanted to upset the status quo whereby everyone was making money)
revolving door between Wall Street and Government
Ideology (mistaken belief that market would always self-correct)
Fee dependence (e.g. OTS and AIG/WaMu)
Euphoria
Distorted risk assessment
BUBBLES
"Housing prices will never go down!"
Inconsistent Government Response
Bear Sterns vs. Lehman Brothers
Perverse Management Pay
Incentivized short-term gain over long-term stability
Glass-Steagall
Both official repeal and regulatory erosion prior to official repeal
Debt is Good Mentality
Firms became over-leveraged (e.g. Repos and Lehman Brothers - had to get short-term financing every day)
Lehman funded billions everyday - 30-40:1 Leverage Ratio
Pervaded all of society
Income inequality led to people filling the gap with debt
Rise of the Shadow Banking System
Vast zones of unregulated activities (banking)
Derivatives not regulated (e.g. AIG, CDSs, and the lack of any requirement to hold sufficient capital to meet such obligations in the event they come due)
Think Watters of which closed the door on state regulation of mortgage brokers who were subsidiaries of national banks
Preemption
Watters v. Wachovia
Precluded state regulation in a lot of cases
Connected to reg. failures
Proprietary Trading
Using insured deposits to make bets
Actions by Investment Banks/Undisclosed Short-selling
Think Goldman Sachs of whom was taking both sides of a bet and even issuing products of which it was secretly betting against
Business Model of Global Conglomerate in Banking
Citigroup
Created systemic risk and too big to fail problem
Moral Hazard
Deterioration of Underwriting Standards
Banks were paid by the issuers for the number of loans made not for the quality. The incentive became to make as many loans as possible, notwithstanding the potential down the road default of such a loan
Transparency Problem
Shadow Banking, undisclosed short-positions, etc.
Dodd-Frank
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
Independent Head: Led by an independent director appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate.
Independent Budget: Dedicated budget paid by the Federal Reserve system.
Independent Rule Writing: Able to autonomously write rules for consumer protections governing all financial institutions – banks and non-banks – offering consumer financial services or products.
Examination and Enforcement: Authority to examine and enforce regulations for banks and credit unions with assets of over $10 billion and all mortgage-related businesses (lenders, servicers, mortgage brokers, and foreclosure scam operators), payday lenders, and student lenders as well as other non-bank financial companies that are large, such as debt collectors and consumer reporting agencies. Banks and Credit Unions with assets of $10 billion or less will be examined for consumer complaints by the appropriate regulator.
Consumer Protections: Consolidates and strengthens consumer protection responsibilities...
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