(1) The real reason why the poor quality of the underlying assets led to the subprime mortgage crisis in the United States was not the asset securitization tool itself, but the poor quality of the underlying assets in asset securitization and the overuse of asset securitization. The problem lies in the subprime loans of the underlying assets of asset securitization products, and the poor quality of subprime loans is caused by lax risk prevention and control of subprime loans. 2/kloc-at the beginning of the 20th century, the American economy was seriously depressed under the double blow of the bursting of the technology stock bubble and terrorist attacks. The American government has taken various measures to stimulate the economy, the most important of which is to increase the housing ownership rate of American families. From 200 1 to 2003, the Federal Reserve cut interest rates 13 times, and the nominal interest rate dropped from 6.5% to 1%. It also introduced the American Dream Down Payment Act, demanding that the down payment ratio of low-and middle-income families be reduced, and government financial institutions such as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac must provide certain bank mortgage loans to the poor.
Housing loans have also introduced zero down payment and unsecured loans. , so that many families and individuals who are completely unable to repay can also borrow money to buy a house. These mortgages with high risk and low repayment ability are called "subprime loans". These subprime loans expanded rapidly in the macro environment at that time, and by 2007, the scale of subprime loans had occupied half of the securitization market.
(2) Excessive use of asset securitization Asset securitization was born in the United States in the 20th century. This kind of financial innovation breaks the division of American financial market and connects the direct financing market with the indirect financing market. Simply put, asset securitization means that investment banks package bank loans into bonds, and banks can continue to issue loans after the bonds are sold. Therefore, asset securitization has solved the liquidity problem of banks, and the lending ability of banks has been amplified several times. Bank loans belong to the commercial banking system, that is, the indirect financing market, and bonds belong to the investment banking system, that is, the direct financing market. These two market systems operated separately before asset securitization, which opened the boundary between the two markets, established a unified financial market system and promoted the rapid development of the financial industry.
After decades of development, asset securitization in the United States has expanded to all kinds of assets, such as housing mortgage loans, auto loans, student loans, accounts receivable and so on. Asset securitization products are all over the American capital market, and asset securitization products are securitized again, which increases the leverage ratio in the process of securitization. Therefore, asset securitization has greatly extended the chain of assets and amplified the risks of assets.
The root of American subprime mortgage crisis is subprime mortgage. By 2007, the scale of subprime mortgage in the United States reached 780 billion dollars. These subprime loans have been securitized many times, creating 73 trillion US dollars in financial transactions, which are several times the basic assets. Huge financial transactions have penetrated into many fields of the American economic system. So when house prices fell, subprime mortgages defaulted. With the increase of default rate, the subprime mortgage crisis appeared, and then spread along the chain of asset securitization to the entire American financial industry, the American economic system and even the world economic system, and the subprime mortgage crisis broke out.
(3) It is difficult for the financial supervision system to control the subprime mortgage risk. For example, there are 52 states in the United States, but the Federal Reserve has only divided 65,438+02 reservations, each of which covers several states. Moreover, each reserve has a high degree of independence, and the interests of the local governments under its jurisdiction are partially convergent. The financial regulators of each reserve speak for the interests of their own jurisdictions. Besides the Federal Reserve, there are many financial regulatory agencies in the United States, such as the Savings Institution Supervision Bureau, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Some of these institutions are trade associations, and some are owned by other departments of the National Assembly. Their respective supervision efforts are different, and the cost of supervision is also different. American financial enterprises often seek a more relaxed business environment and lower regulatory costs by changing their registered institutions, and various regulatory agencies will also implement various preferential measures to attract more enterprises to enter their own regulatory system in order to gain greater influence and more regulatory income. The whole supervision system is characterized by serious fragmentation.