Tag Archives: Crisis

IMS Expert Services Forms Financial Crisis Expert Practice Group

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Pensacola, FL (PRWEB) November 10, 2008

IMS ExpertServices, the global leader in expert witness search services, announced today the formation of a Financial Crisis Expert Practice Group. IMS assembled the team to provide experts needed during fallout from the current economic crisis.

“IMS ExpertServices has years of experience locating, vetting and placing financial industry experts,” said President Bill Wein. “Since the start of the year we’ve been monitoring movement in the markets. We’ve identified five areas of concentration where we anticipate a strong demand for best of class experts for the financial services sector: mortgage-backed securities, particularly securitization of subprime mortgage loans; other undersecured asset-backed securities, particularly resulting from credit card securitization; interest rate swaps and other derivatives; municipal bonds; and executive compensation matters. Our Financial Crisis Expert Practice Group stands ready to assist our clients with these and other financial sector issues.”

IMS provides expert witnesses for attorneys at over 90 of the AmLaw 100 law firms, as well as top notch regional boutique firms. Though some clients may be accustomed to thinking of IMS as the best resource for technical experts for patent infringement litigation, in fact IMS has deep experience with the financial services sector. IMS experts have worked on some of the largest bankruptcies in the past several years including WorldCom, Enron, Iridium and other significant cases in the courts.

While IMS is skilled in these business segments, so are its experts. “We’ve identified individuals of significant expertise prepared to opine on matters arising from credit and finance litigation,” said Mike Wein, IMS’s CEO. “First class experts are always a finite resource. Our Financial Crisis Expert Practice Group is designed to ensure our clients have the expert witness resources they need when they face challenges arising from the economic situation.”

About IMS

IMS ExpertServices is the legal industry’s premier expert witness search firm, proudly serving over 90 of the firms on the AmLaw 100, American Lawyer Magazine’s ranking of the 100 largest and most profitable law firms in the U.S. With offices in Denver and Atlanta and headquartered in Pensacola, IMS provides the most qualified experts and litigation consultants to attorneys representing clients in business-to-business litigation. More than 300 law firms and 1800 attorneys worldwide partner with IMS ExpertServices to meet their expert witness and litigation consultant needs. For more information call 877.838.8464.

Media inquiries, please contact:

Deborah Brousseau

Manager, Internet Marketing

IMS Expert Services

850.473.6977

dbrousseau@ims-expertservices.com

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Multiple Control Failures To Blame For The Current Credit Crisis

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New York, NY (PRWEB) February 25, 2009

The public has been quick to place sole responsibility for the crisis on the shoulders of bankers, and their perceived excesses. However in any crisis, be it a Depression, Fraud or Catastrophe such as the Three Mile Island Nuclear incident, it is not any one failure point, or person, that leads to a disaster but a confluence of more minor interlinked breakdowns.

A misplaced reliance and faith in mechanical risk models, possessing known flaws and weaknesses, were exploited throughout the mortgage chain.

Loan originators were actively encouraged to push high commission, high risk products, such as Adjustable Rate Mortgages, whilst at the same time over-inflating borrowers assets and under-stating borrowers expenses in order to generate mortgage flow for Wall Street. The controls in place designed to mitigate these abuses, such as obtaining substantiating documentation and 3rd party credit checks were often ignored, omitted or seldom verified.

Bankers packaged, split and combined these mortgages into Bonds backed by them. These bonds were subsequently securitized into Collateralized Debt Obligations (CDO) and then turned into ever more complex and esoteric products, such as CDO^2. These products were impossible to price given their complexity, lack of historic default & price performance information, thereby making management of the associated risks unattainable.

Bankers let the task of independently pricing and rating these securities prior to issuance with Rating Agencies leading to a conflict of interest as Rating agencies were paid for these ratings by the bond issuers. In addition to this moral hazard, Rating Agencies used overly simplistic risk and pricing models that did not take into account systemic risks, risks that the underlying assumptions used in their valuations would be moot due to “extraordinary” market conditions.

To protect themselves from unexpected losses on CDOs, sophisticated investors relied upon the purchase of a type of insurance contract, the Credit Default Swap which shared the same fundamental flaws in pricing and risk as the CDOs. Whilst the economic benefit of a CDS is sound in principle, the vast majority of these CDS were written and traded solely as a speculative play. As defaults increased to levels way beyond those used in the initial modeling of price and risk the perceived likelihood that the originating issuers of being burdened with “insurance” payouts that they will be unable to pay further added to market turmoil and systemic risk.

Industry regulators, bodies who’s task is to protect investors by maintaining the fairness of Capital Markets, must also bear a portion of the blame for the current crisis. Regulators were under staffed and over lobbied by financial institutions eager to remove rules designed to reduce the level of risk they could take on. In addition regulatory staff working at the coal face were seldom experienced and educated in the fields of risk management and were primarily concerned that the banks were following the rules set by the regulators, rules that possessed loopholes that institutions readily exploited.

In the end the credit crisis resulted from failures of many interrelated controls. Moral hazard over the way in which compensation was awarded, controls that were actively avoided, known flaws in risk models which were overlooked and the gatekeepers of the financial market were under funded and over lobbied. Such far ranging failures throughout the entire mortgage process demand a complete rethink on how financial products and markets are modeled, monitored and controlled.

About Crest Rider

Crest Rider Inc is a Management Consulting firm specializing in developing Risk & Governance solutions in the fields of Capital Markets, Investment Banking and Insurance

For more information, visit http://www.crestrider.com or contact Julian Fisher at 212 721 1580

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Related Securitization Press Releases

Brookstone Legislation, PCs Crisis Extension Section Discovers Concealed House Sale Day, Earns Distinctive Federal TRO for Neighborhood Seniors

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Newport Seashore, CA (Vocus/PRWEB) March 31, 2011

Many thanks to Brookstone Legislation, PCs Emergency Extension Department (EED), a new useful resource to support home owners experiencing foreclosure preserve their residences, two regional seniors have kept their home despite their Banks makes an attempt to disguise the sale day from them, it was declared today by Vito Torchia, Jr., managing legal professional of Brookstone Regulation, Laptop.

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According to court paperwork, Bob and Angela Sacchi, a married couple in their 80s living on a fastened pension earnings and savings in West Hollywood, CA, were experiencing foreclosures, the sale of their home and eventual eviction based on a predatory house mortgage they received in 2004 and the banking companies refusal to enable them to modify their mortgage in spite of quite a few tries to fix their problems more than the previous a number of years. The case is Sacchi, vs. MERS et al., Situation No. CV 11-01658 pending in the United States District Courtroom – Central District of California.

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Following to begin with halting the sale of their residence the working day ahead of it was scheduled to be bought, Brookstone Law ongoing to symbolize the pair. Unbeknownst to either the Sacchis or Brookstone Legislation, a new sale day was scheduled by the Bank. Only through Brookstone Laws focus to depth and regular comply with up did the EED group find out the Lender experienced scheduled a new sale day.

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When our EED team aids obtain a postponement, we often seem for the chance to pursue additional steps to lengthen postponements or attain cancellations, said Aalok Sikand, one of the lead attorneys on the EED group. We discovered by means of our tough operate and analysis that the Bank had established a new sale day and have been not surprised to find out they experienced not communicated that to the Sacchis.

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Brookstone immediately geared up and filed an ex parte movement for a temporary restraining order and for an order environment a listening to day for a preliminary injunction towards certain of the foreclosing defendants. According to courtroom files, the motion was based on alleged violations of California foreclosures statutes and on a securitization audit and accompanying affidavit calling into concern the authority of the foreclosing party to in fact foreclose. The Court issued the temporary restraining purchase, restraining all defendants from foreclosing on the Sacchis residence pending a listening to on the preliminary injunction. The Court docket will set a briefing plan.

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Many thanks to Brookstone Laws EED we have a feeling of security about our future, said Mr. Sacchi, a member of the Screen Actors Guild and American Federation of Radio and Television Artists who starred in the movie “The Male Who Stole Bogart’s Experience” and has appeared in quite a few well-liked tv collection including “Kojak” and “Fantasy Island.” Brookstone Legislation mentioned they would battle for us in court docket and they did just that.

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Like several property owners, the pair had heard tales about how home owners dealing with foreclosure are treated by banks and how a lot of banking institutions do not permit brief product sales to handle foreclosures. Media reports have highlighted banks mishandling of mortgage foreclosures and mistreating customers, procedures which have led to legal action during the place like fits filed by far more than forty condition lawyers standard in opposition to banks and loan providers. Media protection has shown banks throwing peoples belongings into the road in wrongful evictions, overcharging countless numbers of customers of the army on their mortgages and bank executives admitting to blatant misadministration of mortgage files in wrongful foreclosures trials.

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Dealing with quick foreclosures, without possibility for a mortgage modification, residing on a mounted low revenue and with nowhere to go if their property was marketed, there seemed to be no way for the few to cease their first foreclosures until they contacted the EED experts at Brookstone Legislation. EEDs group of legal authorities and specialists acted decisively and fought for the few in court by filing a lawsuit that resulted in a postponement of the initial sale day.

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This is one more example of how we will not end operating until we accomplish the final results our clientele need to have, mentioned Nisha S., a seasoned EED professional. With no focused attorneys and professionals operating on their behalf, the Sacchis would not have known about the difficult predicament the financial institution put them in ahead of it was way too late for them to act to conserve their residence.

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At a time when thousands and thousands of Americans are dropping their homes as element of the foreclosures disaster, property owners encounter a overwhelming challenge when working with banking companies. To deal with people challenges, many home owners have turned to the EED help them keep their residences. Developed by Brookstone Law to aid customers deal right with an institutional forms that is biased against them, the EED is a unique provider not presented by any other organization that provides home owners experiencing foreclosures a fighting opportunity to hold their homes. Brookstone Regulations EED attorneys and professionals are skilled in functioning straight with banks and thoroughly skilled to support home owners accomplish postponements.

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Brookstone Legal guidelines lawful group researches all obtainable options to help homeowners extend their sale day although they are in the procedure of litigation, bankruptcy or brief sale. Expenses are contingent on achievement of the provider, which signifies consumers spend only if the sale can be postponed or stopped. House owners experiencing foreclosures like the Sacchis are making use of the EED to help keep their residences. The method typically normally takes several hours for every shopper and a lot of situations require as significantly as a complete day to get final results since a majority of EED exercise is invested by the Firms legal professionals and authorities in foreclosure regulation and litigation working immediately and negotiating with banks and creditors.

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“We will not hesitate to go to courtroom if necessary to get the final results we want, which is where our group of authorized authorities and attorneys is of biggest worth to house owners looking for reduction, explained Vito Torchia, Jr. Our EED authorized crew and specialists are to be commended once once again for undertaking such fantastic work on behalf of a deserving couple.

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About Brookstone Regulation, Pc &#13

Headquartered in Newport Seaside, Calif., and with offices in Los Angeles, Calif., and Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., Brookstone Regulation, Personal computer is a legislation organization comprised of lawyers with knowledge and good results in enterprise, corporate and private finance, work, leisure and media, art and museum, intellectual house and true estate regulation. The agency has a community of a lot more than 40 affiliate attorneys nationwide and employs hugely educated experts, paralegals, paraprofessionals and administrative workers dedicated to serving customers. For data, call (800) 946-8655 or go to Brookstone-Regulation.com (http://www.brookstone-regulation.com).

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