|GLOBAL FINANCIAL CRISIS |November 12 |
| |2008 |
| | |
PART 2
Introduction
The stock price plunge and the severe credit crunch we are watching today in the global financial markets are byproducts of the developments in the US six years ago. In late 2001, fears of global terror attacks after 9/11 shook an already
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The resulting spiral underlay a developing financial crisis.
Initially the companies affected were those directly involved in home construction and mortgage lending such as Northern Rock and Countrywide Financial. Financial institutions which had engaged in the securitization of mortgages such as Bear Stearns, Indy Mac Bank, and Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, then fell prey.
It then began to affect the general availability of credit to non-housing related businesses and to larger financial institutions not directly connected with mortgage lending. At the heart of many of these institution 's portfolios were investments whose assets had been derived from bundled home mortgages. Exposure to these mortgage-backed securities, or to the credit derivatives used to insure them against failure, threatened an increasing number of firms such as Lehman Brothers, AIG, Merrill Lynch, and HBOS.
Development of the global financial crisis
The development of the global financial crisis is a result of a number of complicated and interrelated factors. Starting with the downturn of the housing bubble in the US economy, the fall in the financial stability in the US, and the rising commodity prices, all of the factors, in one way or other, has initiated the crisis. As stated by the United Nation in its Conference on Trade and Development, and in its Trade and Development Report 2008, the major factors for the crisis are:
1. The bursting of the housing
Longtime stalwarts of the nation’s financial services industry that fell victim to that turmoil included Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers, and Merrill Lynch.
Unfortunately, the mortgages would take a turn for the worst; thus, resulting in investment funds lost and the inability to repay the loans that they borrowed from the banks (Isidore, 2008). Left with nothing, the banks were forced to declare the loans as unrecoverable, reduce the bank’s reserve, and limit their ability to generate new loans (Isidore, 2008). These actions destroy the economy because both businesses and buyers need loans to pay for investment expenditures and finance consumption (Isidore, 2008). An early problem was “ mortgage-backed security”. According to AP Economics 19 edition, “ Mortgage- backed securities are bonds backed by mortgage payments”(Brue). In order to create mortgage- backed securities, lenders begin by creating mortgage loans (Brue). When they do, the lenders combine hundreds of loans into one and sell them off as bonds; basically selling the right to regain all future payments (Brue). In the end, banks receive an individual payment for the bond. Bond buyers recover the mortgage payments as the gain on the investment (Brue). As first, it seemed like a good decision on the bank’s party because it moved any future default risk on those mortgages to the buyer’s bond (Brue). Unfortunately, they fail to realize that they had lent the significant amount of money they got from investment funds to selling bonds (Brue). Moreover, the banks bought huge amounts of
The definitive effects of the securitization of subprime mortgages on the financial crisis accentuated the prominent failure of institutions to follow proper risk management and investment guidelines. Financial institutions, failed to aligned company goals with risk management practices and instead fueled greed by issuing monetary incentives based on the quantity of subprime loans issued or securities sold, rather than concentrate on the quality. Investment banks such as Lehman Brother, Bear Stearns and Merrill Lynch all participated in risky investment practices, which compounded the institutions risk and involvement in the securities. In 2006 Merrill Lynch doubled their endeavors in mortgaged backed securities and by the
The financial crisis did not happen in a day or two, it was triggered by a variety of events that happened.in years ago. In year 1998, The Glass-Steagall legislation was repealed, it is a legislation that separated investments and commercial banking activities in the financial sector. This act then allowed banks in the US to act in both the commercial and investment fields, which allowed them to participate in highly risky business. This is somehow responsible for the mortgage-backed derivatives, which is a main cause of the
The beginning of the crisis: From the early to the mid-2000’s, high-risk mortgages became available from lenders who funded mortgages by repackaging them into pools that were sold to investors. New financial products were used to apportion these risks, with private-label mortgage-backed securities providing most of the funding of subprime mortgages. The less
Freddie Mac Introduction The year 2007-2008 witnessed one of the most devastating economic crisis along history. Many financial institutions suffered during the crisis and even some of them completely disappeared. This paper will focus on the mortgage market meltdown, while highlighting the major downturn witnessed by Freddie Mac. Historical Background The mortgage lending industry is one of the most crucial industries in the US.
Financial Crisis of 2007-2008 originated in the United States spread to the financial systems of many other countries, including CIS countries, by means of the domino effect. Bankruptcy of one of the largest Americans Bank, Lehman Brothers Holdings PLC, in someway was a launcher of this global crisis the scope of that can be compared with the Great Depression of the 30s of the last century. No one could have even believed that a crisis in the local market of subprime mortgage loans in the USA would have such enormous affect on the financial systems over the world and crash banking sectors of many countries one by one.
All of these components manufactured the financial crisis. Right after the crisis, banks were strict on lending to households and businesses. The decline in lending caused prices in these markets to trickle down, which means those that have taken a lot, had to contemplate on the rising prices and had to give up their estates in order to repay their loans. House prices became cheaper and everything burst. This lead banks to panic and cut their lending even more. A downward spiral resulted from all of this, and the economy went into recession.
The 2008 financial crisis led to numerous mortgage foreclosure rates (Angelides et al, 2011). Many mortgage companies filed for bankruptcy and this because many of them were running under drastic losses. Financial institutions were unable to lend money because they were operating under losses and this slowed down the economic activities. This unease led central banks to take relevant action to provide funds in order to encourage lending and also to reestablish faith in the commercial paper markets ( United States. Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission , 2010). Not only did the central banks help in relieving the crisis, the federal government was involved in helping the financial institutions by assuming major additional financial commitments. Federal government funded financial institutions dealing with mortgage purchasing and repackaging, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were declared bankrupt. Alongside the two government funded institutions that were declared bankrupt, several other main investment banks, insurance companies, and commercial banks tied to the real-estate lending were
The year of 2008, the world economy confronted its most risky emergency since the Great Depression of the 1930s. The disease, which started in 2007 when overpriced home costs in the United States at long last turned
Just after ten years of Asian financial crisis, another major financial crisis now concern for all developed and some developing countries is “Global Financial Crisis 2008.” It is beginning with the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers on Sunday, September 14, 2008 and spread like a flood. At first U.S banking sector fall in a great liquidity crisis and simultaneously around the world stock markets have fallen, large financial institutions have collapsed or been bought out, and governments in even the wealthiest nations have had to come up with rescue packages to bail out their financial systems. (Global issue)
The Global Financial Crisis, also known as The Great Recession, broke out in the United States of America in the middle of 2007 and continued on until 2008. There were many factors that contributed to the cause of The Global Financial Crisis and many effects that emerged, because the impact it had on the financial system. The Global Financial Crisis started because of house market crash in 2007. There were many factors that contributed to the housing market crash in 2007. These factors included: subprime mortgages, the housing bubble, and government policies and regulations. The factors were a result of poor financial investments and high risk gambling, which slumped down interest rates and price of many assets. Government policies and regulations were made in order to attempt to solve the crises that emerged; instead the government policies made backfired and escalated the problem even further.
Just to name a few of the acquisitions and failures that occurred due to the crisis, Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch and Bear Stearns were among the largest investment banks. “Lehman Brothers declared bankruptcy, Bear Stearns was bought by JP Morgan Chase and Merrill Lynch was bought by Bank of America.” (Chang, 14) Bank of America also purchased Countrywide Financial, which issued approximately 17% of all mortgages in the U.S. market. Some bank holding companies that were greatly affected were Washington Mutual and Wachovia. Those that were affected first by
The outbreak and spread of the financial crisis of 2007-2008 have caused the most of countries into severe economic difficulties and also created an adverse impact on the global economy. The beginning of the financial crisis is defaults in the subprime mortgage market in the USA. Although the global economy seems to recover since 2009, the impacts of the crisis still affect many countries until now. This essay focuses on the background and impacts of financial crisis, and the learning from the movie The Big Short.
After the rescue of Fannie and Freddie, it seemed like it was more fuel being added to the worldwide financial panic because other companies and institutions were still in crises. The Lehman Brothers and AIG collapsed and Bank of America bought Merrill Lynch. (ibid.)