This book examines the Federal Trade Commissions' (FTCs) study on the accuracy and completeness of consumer credit reports. The FTC contracted a research team to conduct two pilot studies and collect the data for the main study described in this book. The study was designed to be the first to engage all the primary groups that participate in the credit reporting and scoring process; consumers, lenders/data furnishers, the Fair Isaac Corporation, and the CRAs; and to provide an overview of the credit reporting industry, the dispute process, and the need for an accuracy study.

The SSBCI provides funding to states, territories, and eligible municipalities to expand existing or to create new state small business investment programs, including state capital access programs, collateral support programs, loan participation programs, loan guarantee programs, and venture capital programs. This book examines the SSBCI and its implementation, including Treasury's response to initial program audits conducted by the U.S. Government Accountability Office and Treasury's Office of Inspector General. These audits suggested that SSBCI participants were generally complying with the statute's requirements, but that some compliance problems existed, in that, the Treasury's oversight of the program could be improved; and performance measures were needed to assess the program's efficacy.

Die Finanzkrise und die Krisenmaßnahmen der Europäischen Zentralbank haben zu umfangreichen Veränderungen und neuen Herausforderungen für das Europäische System der Zentralbanken geführt. Wesentliche Auswirkungen ergeben sich auch in Bezug auf den Gewinn und Verlust der Bundesbank. Die erhebliche Erweiterung der Bilanzen der Zentralbanken des ESZB ermöglicht einerseits deutlich höhere Gewinne als in der Vergangenheit und andererseits stellt sie eine Bedrohung für die Solvenz der Zentralbanken dar. Vor diesem Hintergrund untersucht Timo Sebastian Heller die rechtlichen Regelungen in Bezug auf Gewinn und Verlust der Bundesbank. Dabei betrachtet er sowohl die Krisenmaßnahmen des ESZB als auch die Veränderung der TARGET2-Salden. Ebenfalls untersucht und bewertet er Alternativen zum bestehenden System der Gewinnverteilung und Gewinnverwendung.

The importance of managing credit and credit risks carefully and appropriately cannot be overestimated. The very success or failure of a bank and the banking industry in general may well depend on how credit risk is handled.

Banking professionals must be fully versed in the risks associated with credit operations and how to manage those risks. This up-to-date volume is an invaluable reference and study tool that delves deep into issues associated with credit risk management.

"Credit Risk Management" from the Hong Kong Institute of Bankers (HKIB)discusses the various ways through which banks manage risks. Essential for candidates studying for the HKIB Associateship Examination, it can also help those who want to acquire a deeper understanding of how and why banks make decisions and set up processes that lower their risk.

Topics covered in this book include: Active credit portfolio managementRisk management, pricing, and capital adequacyCapital requirements for banksApproaches to credit risk managementStructural models and probability of defaultTechniques to determine loss given defaultDerivatives and structured products

Loan sharks may conjure up an image of tough guys in fedoras looking to make a profit off of desperate people in dire financial straits, but in reality, lenders who advance small sums of cash at high interest rates until payday existed long before organized crime entered the trade. Today the businesses that fill this niche in the credit market prefer the name 'payday lenders' rather than loan sharks, but most large cities are still a hotbed of usurious lending, and the landscapes are dotted with their inviting and brightly colored storefronts. Despite their more respectable name, these predatory lenders have endured through regulation, prohibition, and the rise and fall of the mob since the late 1800s. In this intriguing and accessible book, Mayer aptly assesses the consequences of high-interest lending--both for the people who borrow at such steep prices and for society as a whole. He argues that although some consumers gain from borrowing at high rates, payday lending in its modern form consistently traps many of the wage earners who pawn their postdated checks, leaving them worse off than they were before. Because payday lending regulations vary widely throughout the country, Mayer chose to focus his story on Chicago, a city that serves as a fine representative of the legacy of loan sharking. "Quick Cash "will engage policy analysts, economists, and regional historians, as wells as general readers interested in the fascinating story behind these unscrupulous lending operations that feed off America's current tough economic times.

Credit derivatives as a financial tool has been growing exponentially from almost nothing more than seven years ago to approximately US$5 trillion deals completed by end of 2005. This indicates the growing importance of credit derivatives in the financial sector and how widely it is being used these days by banks globally. It is also being increasingly used as a device of synthetic securitisation. This significant market trend underscores the need for a book of such a nature.
Kothari, an undisputed expert in credit derivatives, explains the subject matter using easy-to-understand terms, presents it in a logical structure, demystifies the technical jargons and blends them into a cohesive whole.
This revised book will also include the following:
- New credit derivative definitions
- New features of the synthetic CDO market
- Case studies of leading transactions of synethetic securitisations
- Basle II rules - The Consultative Paper 3 has significantly revised the rules, particularly on synthetic CDOs
- Additional inputs on legal issues
- New clarifications on accounting for credit derivatives/credit linked notes

English summary: After thirty years of Maoism, a securities market has been developing in the People's Republic of China since the end of the 80s. In 2002, the Chinese share markets in Shanghai and Shenzhen had already become the second largest in Asia. China has gradually set up a regulatory framework and a powerful supervisory body, the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC), to ensure the functioning of the securities market and to protect investors. Knut Benjamin Pissler gives a systematic analysis of Chinese securities law in its current stage of development. He illustrates the problems which arise as well as the solutions to these provided in the relevant literature and practice. German description: Nach dreissig Jahren Maoismus entwickelt sich in der Volksrepublik China seit Ende der achtziger Jahre ein Kapitalmarkt. Im Jahr 2002 haben sich die chinesischen Borsen in Shanghai und Shenzhen bereits zum zweitgrossten Aktienmarkt Asiens nach Japan entwickelt. Schrittweise wurden in China ein Regelwerk und eine Wertpapieraufsicht aufgebaut, um die Funktionsfahigkeit dieses Marktes zu gewahrleisten und um Anleger zu schutzen. Knut Benjamin Pissler stellt das chinesische Kapitalmarktrecht in seinem gegenwartigen Entwicklungsstand systematisch dar und zeigt Probleme sowie die hierfur in Literatur und Praxis angebotenen Losungen auf. Im Mittelpunkt der Untersuchung des Borsenrechts stehen die Grundlagen einer zivilrechtlichen Informationshaftung fur Schadenersatzanspruche von Anlegern und der verwaltungsrechtlichen Sanktionen der chinesischen Wertpapieraufsicht gegen Insidergeschafte und Marktmanipulationen. Im Recht der Wertpapiergeschafte wird der rechtliche Rahmen der Emissionsgeschafte, Eigengeschafte, Kommissionsgeschafte und anderer Geschafte der chinesischen Wertpapierhandler aufzeigt. Einen Schwerpunkt bildet hier die Untersuchung einer Vielzahl von Aktienemissionen im Jahr 2001, anhand derer die Praxis des Emissionsgeschafts in China dargestellt wird.

The 2008 financial crisis and its subsequent economic impacts generated a challenge for national and regional governments across the world. From this economic ruin, the Social Impact Bond (SIB) was born as an alternative mechanism for government procurement and delivery of social public services. Social Service, Private Gain examines the evolution of SIBs, how they work, their theoretical motivation, and their global proliferation. The book critically assesses the potential of SIBs to constructively contribute to solving the multifaceted social challenges emerging from a context of entrenched and growing inequality. Claiming to bring incremental resources to the rescue, SIBs have taken up disproportionate space with new legislation, policy, subsidies, institutional supports, lobbyists, and "intermediaries" facilitating SIBs and thriving on their associated transaction costs. Drawing on mainstream and heterodox economic theory, practical case studies, and empirical data, Jesse Hajer and John Loxley generate new insights based on the limited but still suggestive publicly available data on SIB projects. Challenging the assumptions and narratives put forward by proponents of the model, they offer practical policy recommendations for SIBs and explain what the model tells us about the potential for transformational change for the better.

Mortgage banking is one of the fastest growing industries in the country. In the next few years, home purchases are expected to run into the trillions, creating more opportunity than ever for people seeking a career in this profitable industry. Real estate author, columnist, and veteran mortgage banker. David Reed offers practical advice on licensing and educational requirements, as well as valuable guidance on the different career options available as a mortgage broker, mortgage banker, correspondent mortgage banker, and more. Aspiring mortgage brokers will also discover how to: * Quote interest rates * Get approved by wholesale lenders * Negotiate the steps of the loan process * Market and prospect successfully Detailed and informative, Your Successful Career as a Mortage Broker is an invaluable tool for creating a brilliant career in an ever-changing, ever-growing field.

To get the biggest return, real estate investors need the right financing. And as they buy multiple properties, their debt to equity rises, making it more difficult to get the kind of deal they need. As many investors have learned the hard way, getting the wrong financing can wipe out their profits, hold them back from selling because of a lack of equity, or force them to try to sell for more than the market will bear. The Real Estate Investor's Guide to Financing is the one book that shows readers how to get the right financial package for the biggest return on their investment. As a respected author and mortgage banker, David Reed has spent more than 20 years helping investors finance their properties. Here, he offers advice on such crucial topics as: * financing options for different property types * the financial implications of renting vs. flipping * setting rental rates * the challenges and benefits of being a landlord, including rent loss coverage * the pros and cons of having partners * tips on financing a second home, duplex, multi-family unit, or condo Complete with essential advice on financing and a glossary of investment terms, this is the one guide that will help readers start making real money.

The field of credit risk and corporate bankruptcy prediction has gained considerable momentum following the collapse of many large corporations around the world, and more recently through the sub-prime scandal in the United States. This book provides a thorough compendium of the different modelling approaches available in the field, including several new techniques that extend the horizons of future research and practice. Topics covered include probit models (in particular bivariate probit modelling), advanced logistic regression models (in particular mixed logit, nested logit and latent class models), survival analysis models, non-parametric techniques (particularly neural networks and recursive partitioning models), structural models and reduced form (intensity) modelling. Models and techniques are illustrated with empirical examples and are accompanied by a careful explanation of model derivation issues. This practical and empirically-based approach makes the book an ideal resource for all those concerned with credit risk and corporate bankruptcy, including academics, practitioners and regulators.

Microcredit programmes, long considered efficient development tools, now face unprecedented crises in a number of countries. Is this the end of microcredit or rather an essential step in its expansion? Should we stop microcredit altogether or rethink the way it is implemented? Drawing on extensive empirical research conducted in various parts of the world - from Morocco to Senegal to India - this important volume examines the whole chain of microcredit to provide the answers to these questions. In doing so, the authors highlight the diversity of crises, both in intensity and in nature, while also shedding light on a diversity of causes, be it microcredit organizations unprepared for massive growth, saturated local economies or greedy investors and shareholders attracted by profits. Crucially, the authors demonstrate that microcredit is not a monolithic project, and the crises should also be analysed in the light of national histories and policies. An original and necessary intervention in what has become one of the most contentious topics within the development world.

A credit score is a numerical summary of a consumer's apparent creditworthiness, based on the consumer's credit report, and reflects the relative likelihood that the consumer will default on a credit obligation. Credit scores can have a significant impact on a consumer's financial life. Lenders rely on scores extensively in decision making, including the initial decisions of whether to lend and what loan terms to offer, for most types of credit, including mortgages, auto loans, and credit cards. Credit scores also influence the marketing offers that consumers receive, such as offers for credit cards. A good credit score can mean access to a wide range of credit products at the better rates available in the market, while a bad credit score can lead to greatly reduced access to credit and much higher borrowing costs. This book provides context for understanding the credit reporting industry as a whole, important industry players, and the complexity of the credit scoring process.

A breakthrough methodology for profiting in the high-yield and distressed debt market

Global advances in technology give investors and asset managers more information at their fingertips than ever before. With "Quantitative Analytics in Debt Valuation and Management," you can join the elite club of quantitative investors who know how to use that information to beat the market and their competitors.

This powerful guide shows you how to sharpen your analytical process by considering valuable information hidden in the prices of related assets. "Quantitative Analytics in Debt Valuation and Management" reveals a progressive framework incorporating debt valuation based on the interrelationships among the equity, bond, and options markets. Using this cutting-edge method in conjunction with traditional debt and equity analysis, you will reduce portfolio risk, find assets with the highest returns, and generate dramatically greater profits from your transactions.

This book's "fat-free" presentation and easy-to-navigate format jump-starts busy professionals on their way to mastering proven techniques to: Determine the "equity risk" inherent in corporate debt to establish the causal relationship between a company's debt, equity, and asset values Price and analyze corporate debt in real time by going beyond traditional methods for computing capital requirements and anticipated losses Look with an insider's eye at risk management challenges facing banks, hedge funds, and other institutions operating with financial leverage Avoid the mistakes of other investors who contribute to the systemic risk in the financial system

Additionally, you will be well prepared for the real world with the book's focus on practical application and clear case studies. Step-by-step, you will see how to improve bond pricing and hedge debt with equity, and how selected investment management strategies perform when the model is used to drive decision making.

GMAC is a diversified financial services firm that derives its revenues from automotive finance, where it holds a dominant position, as well as mortgage operations, insurance operations, and commercial finance. The U.S. government has spent a total of $17.2 billion to support GMAC under the TARP. GMAC received funds on three separate occasions, spanning both the Bush and Obama Administrations. As part of the government bail-out effort, GMAC has received special treatment apart from the funds in order to meet the capital buffers established under the bank "stress tests" because it could not raise funds from private sources. This book examines the unique treatment given GMAC under the TARP.

This book discusses the three amendments that the SEC Commission is proposing that would impose additional requirements on nationally recognised statistical rating organisations ("NRSROs") in order to address concerns about the integrity of their credit rating procedures in the light of the role they played in determining credit ratings for securities collateralised by or linked to subprime residential mortgages. The Commission today makes a proposal related to structured finance products rating symbology. Thirdly, this book discusses the rule amendments that the Commission intends to propose that would be intended to reduce undue reliance in the Commission's rules on NRSRO ratings. In August 2007, the Securities and Exchange Commission's Staff initiated examinations of three credit rating agencies, to review their role in the recent turmoil in the subprime mortgage-related securities markets. The purpose of the examinations was to develop an understanding of the practices of the rating agencies surrounding the rating of RMBS and CDOs. This book includes a summary report by the Commission's Staff of the issues identified in those examinations. Finally, an overview of the subprime mortgage securitisation process is provided as well as the seven key informational frictions that arise. Ways that market participants work to minimise these frictions is discussed and how this process broke down is speculated. Key structural features of a typical subprime securitisation is presented, and how rating agencies assign credit ratings to mortgage-backed securities is documented. How these agencies monitor the performance of mortgage pools over time is also outlined.

In this book, the authors provide an overview of the sub-prime mortgage securitisation process and the seven key informational frictions that arise. They discuss the ways that market participants work to minimise these frictions and speculate on how this process broke down. They continue with a complete picture of the sub-prime borrower and the sub-prime loan, discussing both predatory borrowing and predatory lending. They present the key structural features of a typical sub-prime securitisation, document how rating agencies assign credit ratings to mortgage-backed securities, and outline how these agencies monitor the performance of mortgage pools over time.

Risk models, like all tools that describe and predict behaviors, possess strengths and flaws that can yield consequences both intended and unintended. In this collection of original essays, finance professionals and professors from around the world examine the assumptions and expectations that underlie both financial risk models and the practices and institutions they have engendered. Contributors analyze and evaluate current systems while summarizing our understanding of certain types of risk and describing emerging trends. Subjects range from risk reporting and risk forecasting to enterprise risk management and the effect of behavioral finance on compensation systems. Encouraging practitioners and the academic community to look at risk as it hasn't been looked at before, this book seeks to encourage critical thinking and innovation.

Todays most complete, up-to-date reference for controlling credit risk exposure of all types, in every environment

While credit risk may be the oldest source of risk in the financial markets, todays fastchanging regulations and transformative technologies present investment banks with problems that are new and daunting. The Standard & Poors Guide to Measuring and Managing Credit Risk provides financial professionals with a comprehensive course on all aspects of todays increasingly complex credit risk environment, along with newer tools and strategies they can use to identify, measure, monitor, and control risk.

Moving far beyond the Basel guidelines, this in-depth guide takes a global view of the issue, explaining how credit risk is linked more than ever to markets and how to manage it accordingly. Filled with trusted Standard & Poors data and insight, this hands-on book discusses:

• Three types of default correlation and how to address each
  
• Quantitative approaches for default risk modeling
  
• Derivative and securitization techniques for increasing liquidity
  

Microcredit is a grassroots development strategy that grants small-scale loans to poor borrowers for self-employment projects that generate income. Microcredit, along with other grassroots approaches, offers an alternative to the top-down macroeconomic approaches that have characterized policies in developing countries since World War II. Aside from a few high profile success stories, the top-down approach has failed. The vast majority of people living in developing countries still suffer from extreme poverty and underdevelopment. While effective macropolicies remain necessary for any successful development strategy, the need for complementary microstrategies at the grassroots level has become apparent. Among the various grassroots approaches, microcredit not only shows unique promise in alleviating poverty, but also offers the poor a better future through self-reliance. While positive microcredit benefits have begun to emerge in evaluations, scholars still debate the proper role of microcredit in overall development policy. The purpose of this book is to address the major policy issues surrounding the use of microcredit as a tool for economic and social development.

Annuity insurance products help protect retirees against outliving their incomes. Dramatic advances in life expectancy mean that today's retirees must plan on living into their eighties, their nineties, and even beyond. Longer life expectancies are the symbol of a prosperous society, but this progress also means that some retirees will need to plan conservatively and cut back substantially on their living standards or risk living so long that they exhaust their resources. This book examines the role that life annuities can play in helping people protect themselves against such outcomes. A life annuity is an insurance product that pays out a periodic amount for as long as the annuitant is alive, in exchange for a premium. The book begins with a history of life annuity markets during the twentieth century in the United States and elsewhere. It then explores recent trends in annuity pricing and money's worth, as well as the economic value generated for purchasers of these products. The book explains the potential importance of inflation-protected annuities and stock-market-linked variable annuities in providing more complete retirement security. The concluding chapters examine life annuities in various institutional settings and the tax treatment of annuity products.

In 1982 Johns-Manville, a major asbestos manufacturer, declares itself insolvent to avoid paying claims resulting from exposure to its products. A year later, Continental Airlines, one of the top ten carriers in the United States, claims a deficit when the union resists plans to cut labor costs. Later still, oil powerhouse Texaco cries broke rather than pay damages resulting from a courtroom defeat by archrival Pennzoil. Bankruptcy, once a term that sent shudders up a manager's spine, is now becoming a potent weapon in the corporate arsenal. In his timely and challenging study, Kevin Delaney explores this profound change in our legal landscape, where corporations with billions of dollars in assets use bankruptcy to achieve specific political and organizational objectives. As a consequence, bankruptcy court is rapidly becoming an arena in which crucial social issues are resolved: How and when will people dying of asbestos poisoning be compensated? Can companies unilaterally break legally negotiated labor contracts? What are the ethical and legal rules of the corporate takeover game? In probing the Chapter 11 bankruptcies of Johns-Manville, Frank Lorenzo's Continental Airlines, and Texaco, Delaney shows that more and more, an array of powerful actors--corporations, commercial creditors, auditors, bond rating agencies and investment bankers--are coming to view bankruptcy as a legitimate business strategy. In each situation, the choice of bankruptcy by these corporate giants was directly influenced by the surrounding business community. In the case of Johns-Manville, carrying appropriate insurance did not prevent its twenty insurance companies from refusing to pay claims. Thanks to shrewdplanning and cooperation from Continental's creditors, not only was the airline able to continue flying in the first week of Chapter 11, but it could also offer the lowest cross-country fare in the market. Texaco's banks nudged their client toward bankruptcy as a way to squeeze it into compliance with banking conventions it had previously bypassed. Strategic Bankruptcy uncovers the ways in which bankruptcy has become a biased political system of allocating scarce resources. Delaney's in-depth investigation of three recent bankruptcies and his searing expose of current corporate practices make this book essential reading for corporate executives, lawyers, legislators, and policymakers.

The explosive growth of consumer credit, as well as the shift from cash to "plastic" in societies throughout the world signals a transformation in social relations, which is the focus of this book. For student readers who know the world of credit cards all too well, this is a great way to interest and educate them on the power of thinking sociologically.

A comprehensive overview of the theory of stochastic processes and its connections to asset pricing, accompanied by some concrete applications. This book presents a self-contained, comprehensive, and yet concise and condensed overview of the theory and methods of probability, integration, stochastic processes, optimal control, and their connections to the principles of asset pricing. The book is broader in scope than other introductory-level graduate texts on the subject, requires fewer prerequisites, and covers the relevant material at greater depth, mainly without rigorous technical proofs. The book brings to an introductory level certain concepts and topics that are usually found in advanced research monographs on stochastic processes and asset pricing, and it attempts to establish greater clarity on the connections between these two fields. The book begins with measure-theoretic probability and integration, and then develops the classical tools of stochastic calculus, including stochastic calculus with jumps and Levy processes. For asset pricing, the book begins with a brief overview of risk preferences and general equilibrium in incomplete finite endowment economies, followed by the classical asset pricing setup in continuous time. The goal is to present a coherent single overview. For example, the text introduces discrete-time martingales as a consequence of market equilibrium considerations and connects them to the stochastic discount factors before offering a general definition. It covers concrete option pricing models (including stochastic volatility, exchange options, and the exercise of American options), Merton's investment-consumption problem, and several other applications. The book includes more than 450 exercises (with detailed hints). Appendixes cover analysis and topology and computer code related to the practical applications discussed in the text.