Subprime Lending Crisis

In my book I analyzed what caused the U.S. subprime§mortgage market meltdown and why this triggered a§global credit crunch. In the years before rising§house prices, favourable market conditions and a§well-defined channel of financial intermediaries§drove the expansion of the U.S. subprime mortgage§market. The result was that borrowers with shaky§credit history who did not satisfy standard§underwriting criteria obtained loans, which was§praised as innovation. Subprime mortgage loans were§packed into complex bundles of securities and sold to§investors all around the world. In 2006, thousands of§homeowners became delinquent and defaulted on their§mortgage payments when the housing bubble was§bursting and interest rate reset to higher levels§because they could only afford the initial teaser§rate of their hybrid adjustable rate mortgages.§Unknown exposure dried up the demand for§mortgage-related securities. Banks had to write down§billions of dollars because of losses of§subprime-related securities and some of them were§bailed out. Fears and uncertainty caused a crisis of§liquidity and confidence, a global credit crunch in§financial markets and a sell of on equity markets.