South Asia Investor Review

An Indian-American investor and producer of Bollywood movies has been convicted of mortgage fraud in the United States. How did he scam US banks and investors? How did US mortgage money end up funding Bollywood? To answer these questions, let's look at the broader story of US mortgage fraud and its impact on the international financial markets and the world economy. The French stock market triggered worldwide shares selloff in August 2007 after BNP Paribas, the largest publicly traded bank in France, suspended investors’ ability to remove money from three funds that had invested in American mortgage securities. The bank said it had become temporarily unable to place a value on the funds, which have turned sour as increasing numbers of homeowners have defaulted on their loans. The news came as a shock to many who mistakenly believed the damage from the US mortgage crisis was limited to the US financial markets. How did this happen? The answer lies in how the mortgage business has ch...

The US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson announced the weekend seizure of Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae) and Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac). While some have criticized the US regulators' handling of the mortgage crisis, there is almost unanimous agreement that the bailout of the two mortgage giants was absolutely necessary to prevent a major, worldwide financial markets collapse. The cost of this bailout to the US taxpayers is estimated to be at least $200b. Who are Fannie and Freddie? Both are government sponsored enterprises (GSEs) that guarantee or own more than $5 trillion of mortgages, about 50% of all the mortgages in the United States. Both have suffered heavy losses in the ongoing real estate bust in the United States. Both have suffered heavy losses in the ongoing real estate bust in the United States. Home prices have been falling and many homeowners have lost most or all of their equity in their homes. In many cases, the outstandi...