...Dianne O’Neill Econ. 311 Case Study- Countrywide Financial September 21, 2013 Countrywide Financial was the largest provider of home loans in the United States by the early 2000’s. It was cofounded by Angelo Mozilo in 1969. Countrywide was the primary provider of home loans to minorities in the US and had lowered the barriers of homeownership for lower income families. In 2003 the company launched a campaign designed to provide $1 trillion in home loans to low income and minority borrowers by 2010. Unfortunately, this campaign didn’t come to fruition. Countrywide Financial was known for providing subprime loans, loans made to borrowers whom would not generally qualify for traditional loans, at a rate higher than the prime rate (market rate). Subprime loans are risky because clients are less likely to be able to pay back the loans. For most of the 2000’s Countrywide Financial created an incredibly lucrative profit in the home loan business, but then the US economy began to slow. People were working more and making less money, the result was a surplus of housing that homeowners could no longer afford. In late 2007, the mortgage crisis peaked with foreclosures skyrocketing, which caused investors and borrowers to feel the ramification of subprime loans. In one year Countrywide Financial depreciated over $20 billion and absorbed over $1 billion in losses. In 2008, Bank of America offered to buy Countrywide Financial for $4 billion. Although the offer was substantially less...
Words: 599 - Pages: 3
...Table of Contents Case Summary 2 Affected Stakeholders 3 Ethical Dilemma 4 Why would a $500,000 salary cap prompt personnel to leave for other banks? 5 Was stripping of Lewis’ chairmanship a significant move on the part of BoA shareholders? 6 How could Thain justify spending $1.2 million on his office when Merrill Lynch was on the verge of bankruptcy? 7 What did Ken Lewis hope to gain by claiming that he was “pressured” into completing the Merrill Lynch deal? 9 Of all decisions made by Ken Lewis in this case study, which one do you think did the most damage to his reputation? And why? 10 What should Lewis have done? 12 Conclusion 13 References 14 Case Summary Bank of America (BoA), founded in 1998 is an American multinational banking and financial services corporation. They were notably a key player in the global financial crisis that struck in 2008. Ken Lewis, a former CEO acquired Countrywide Financial and Merrill Lynch. To his dismay, the acquisitions turned out to be disastrous as the first week of January 2009 enlightened the problems that existed within Countrywide Financial and Merrill Lynch; they were bankrupt with assets in their balance sheet that set a new mark for toxicity in the financial market. This required attention and direct aid from the Federal Government itself. However, following this month BoA fell by 65 percent. Just a month after the first quarter of 2009, Ken Lewis was made CEO and stripped off chairmanship by the shareholders’...
Words: 3144 - Pages: 13
... Effects of Risk Takers 2 In the late 2008, firms suffered immensely from investing in auction rate securities. ARS are bonds that the return rates rely on auctions that take place on every 7th week at a minimum. The company’s financial investor managers were under the impression that buying those types of bonds were the way to go. However, Outfitters decided to play it save and invest conservatively. As Benjamin Franklin quoted "Necessity never made a good bargain". In other words, do not invest funds that are needed prematurely, in hopes of an unrealistic high return. The Outfitter financial managers were patient with their finances. Because the Outfitters had a steady cash flow, they invested cautiously. The Outfitters outcome wasn’t as awful as some other firms. Although corporations are faced with challenges, patience is an asset. Firms like Countrywide Financial, Lehman Brothers, and American International Group all had issues with liquid assets. Because of this, they all invested heavily into ARS which in turn made their investment options unstable. When companies as large as these firms do not have enough cash in the bank or liquid assets, it puts them at an increase disadvantage to withstand a financial crisis. Case in point, when the economy went south in 2008, these companies were not able to inject cash back into their businesses because they had taken on too much debt. The bonds they had were worth less because of the high default ratio. When...
Words: 1112 - Pages: 5
...Running head: CAPSTONE PAPER CAPSTONE PAPER Theoretical and Practical Change in Strategic Organizational Leadership By: John King BSM 3-200 MGT 499 Capstone: Strategic Organizational Leadership Executive Summary The rationale or objective of this Capstone Paper is not to support or defend a particular type of strategic organizational leadership; but, to explore and analyze the theoretical and practical changes that cause organizational leadership to alter its goals and effectiveness, by way of strategic variables or necessity. The understanding and significance of theoretical and practical change in organizational leadership is fundamental to the nature and trends of business and government goals and their effectiveness. Organizational leadership is a planned social process that a person or persons in charge, lead or organize groups of people to achieve a common objective. This process may be orchestrated on a large or small scale and for profit or power. This strategic process is not normally the vision of a manager initially, but the dream or idea of the true leader. The strategies used by the leader of an organization often establish the culture of the organization (Flamholtz, & Randle, 2008). Theoretical and practical change in organizational leadership appears to be involved heavily with organizational culture or behavior. The history and background of organizational leadership has...
Words: 12986 - Pages: 52
...At least Bank of America got its name right. The ultimate Too Big to Fail bank really is America, a hypergluttonous ward of the state whose limitless fraud and criminal conspiracies we'll all be paying for until the end of time. Did you hear about the plot to rig global interest rates? The $137 million fine for bilking needy schools and cities? The ingenious plan to suck multiple fees out of the unemployment checks of jobless workers? Take your eyes off them for 10 seconds and guaranteed, they'll be into some shit again: This bank is like the world's worst-behaved teenager, taking your car and running over kittens and fire hydrants on the way to Vegas for the weekend, maxing out your credit cards in the three days you spend at your aunt's funeral. They're out of control, yet they'll never do time or go out of business, because the government remains creepily committed to their survival, like overindulgent parents who refuse to believe their 40-year-old live-at-home son could possibly be responsible for those dead hookers in the backyard. It's been four years since the government, in the name of preventing a depression, saved this megabank from ruin by pumping $45 billion of taxpayer money into its arm. Since then, the Obama administration has looked the other way as the bank committed an astonishing variety of crimes – some elaborate and brilliant in their conception, some so crude that they'd be beneath your average street thug. Bank of America has systematically ripped off...
Words: 7397 - Pages: 30
...STUDENT NUMBER: TP027192 INTAKE CODE: UC2F1501IBM BM061-3.5-2-BEG MODULE NAME: BUSINESS ETHICS GOVERNANCE TOPIC: BANK OF AMERICA’S MOST TOXIC ASSET (CASE B) INDIVIDUAL ASSIGNMENT LECTURER: FARAHIDA BINTI ABDUL JAAFAR DATE ASSIGNED: 06th MARCH 2015 DATE DUE: 17th APRIL 2015 Table of Contents INTRODUCTION. 3 Summary. 3 Ethical Dilemma. 3 Affected Stakeholders. 4 ANSWER FOR QUESTION 1. 4 ANSWER FOR QUESTION 2. 5 ANSWER FOR QUESTION 3. 6 ANSWER FOR QUESTION 4. 7 ANSWER FOR QUESTION 5. 8 ANSWER FOR QUESTION 6. 8 CONCLUSION. 9 REFERENCES. 10 BANK OF AMERICA’S MOST TOXIC ASSET (CASE B). INTRODUCTION. Summary. Ken Lewis was a Chief executive officer of Bank of America, he was appointed as American Banker’s "banker of the year "after purchasing Countrywide Financial and Merrill Lynch. The bank acquisition of Merrill Lynch in 2008 made Bank of America the world's largest wealth management Corporation and a major player in the investment banking market. The deals were applauded and made Ken Lewis even more worth being named as American Banker’s “banker of the year” During first week of January 2009 both Countrywide Financial and Merrill Lynch were bankrupt with assets in their balance sheet which set a new standard for toxicity in financial market, resulting in forfeiture for the bank and requiring financial assistance from the Federal Government. Bank of America was forced to welcoming U.S. taxpayers as the company’s largest shareholder. BOA stock was...
Words: 2993 - Pages: 12
...allow profitable pursuits without restraint. Subprime mortgages offered an opportunity to tap a new source of profits, namely, the increase in housing prices. Many financial institutions engaged in unscrupulous actions to convert household wealth into corporate profits. Efforts to reign in the industry remain wanting. Keywords: acquisitive society, banking ethics, banking profits, Goldman Sachs, subprime crisis JEL Classification Codes: A13, B25, B26, D63 The bailout of the banks violates the legitimacy of markets, the ethos that profit represents the reward for success, loss the punishment for failure. The outrage over bailouts combined with insulating people from the effects of the crisis has fostered an anti-interventionist reaction and a resurgence of neoliberalism. Insulating people from the effects of the crisis has largely left intact the habits of thought and the basic institutional structure. The continued reign of pecuniary values leaves intact the Goldman Rule: pursue profitable opportunities regardless the effects on others. The Goldman Rule rests on the assumption that increases in profitable opportunities increase the opportunity cost of ethical behavior. Ethical behavior refers to self-imposed actions to avoid taking advantage of others that result in lower profits. The Goldman Rule suggests that financial institutions...
Words: 3823 - Pages: 16
... The Goldman Sachs Case When we think of the word ethics, we think of rules and regulations to keep us honest or to know the difference between right and wrong. Another way of defining ‘ethics’ focuses on the disciplines that study standards of conduct, such as philosophy, theology, law, psychology, or sociology” (Resnik, 2011). Considered by many economists to be the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, the financial crisis of 2007 was primarily due to the collapse of the housing industries subprime mortgage market. Residential mortgage-backed securities are commonly issued bonds that are backed by thousands of residential real estate mortgages. The Goldman Sachs case was comprised of subprime mortgages. Most business organization possess a mission statement, a code of ethics or rules to follow to be able to limit the ethical issues that may arise within the Institution, Goldman Sachs did not have any of these. In exploring ethical behavior in the banking and financial institutions whose sole existent is to increase profits through the sale of consumer loans. In 2005, the banking industry started issuing subprime mortgage loans to consumers regardless of their income qualification. “The collapse in prices precipitated the collapse in banking profits, prompting a call for bailing out the banks. Government bailouts effectively rewarded financial institutions for “bad” behavior” (Watkins, 2011). Bottom line, financial institutions were being...
Words: 808 - Pages: 4
...Governments with their banking, investing, asset management and other financial products and services 1. The company is headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina. The company has huge presence in America spanning across 40 states. It serves approximately 54 million consumers in US and its foot print covers 80 % of the population. The bank is being led by Brian Moynihan who succeeded Ken Lewis as the President and CEO effective January 1, 2010. Some of the key highlights of Bank of America are: As of 2010, it is the second largest bank holding company behind JP Morgan Chase in United States by assets which stood over US$ 2 trillion As of 2010, the company is the fifth largest company in United States by revenue which is over 111.4 billion2 The company was also the 3rd largest non-oil company in the US after Wal-Mart and General Electric In 2010, Forbes listed Bank of America as the third largest company in the world 3 The bank has over 5500 branches along with approximately 16300 ATMs and an online banking with 30 million active users 4 The major competitors of Bank of America are JP Morgan Chase, Citi Group and Wells Fargo Bank. 1 http://www.forbes.com/companies/bank-of-america/ 2010 Bank of America Annual Report 3 http://www.forbes.com/companies/bank-of-america/ 4 http://investor.bankofamerica.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=71595&p=irol -homeprofile#fbid=W6HlSIbzfcd 2 4 Bank of America: Mobile Banking Case Report Financial Snapshot 5 Company History The company was founded originally as Bank...
Words: 4633 - Pages: 19
...The Role of Accounting in the Financial Crisis: Lessons for the Future S.P. Kothari kothari@mit.edu 617-253-0994 and Rebecca Lester rlester@mit.edu MIT Sloan School of Management E60-382, 30 Memorial Drive Cambridge, MA 02421 December 14, 2011 ABSTRACT: The advent of the Great Recession in 2008 was the culmination of a perfect storm of lax regulation, a growing housing bubble, rising popularity of derivatives instruments, and questionable banking practices. In addition to these causes, management incentives, as well as certain US accounting standards, contributed to the financial crisis. We outline the significant effects of these incentive structures, and the role of fair value accounting standards during the crisis, and discuss implications and relevance of these rules to practitioners, standard-setters, and academics. This article is based on a presentation by Deputy Dean and Professor SP Kothari of the Sloan School of Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, at Baruch College on October 25, 2010. 1 Electronic copy available at: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1972354 The Role of Accounting in the Financial Crisis: Lessons for the Future I. Introduction The Great Recession that started in 2008 has had significant effects on the US and global economy; estimates of the amount of US wealth lost are approximately $14 trillion (Luhby 2009). Various causes of the financial crisis have been cited, including lax regulation over mortgage lending,...
Words: 9946 - Pages: 40
...THE SUBPRIME CREDIT CRISIS AND CONTAGION IN FINANCIAL MARKETS Francis A. Longstaff∗ Abstract. We conduct an empirical investigation into the pricing of subprime assetbacked CDOs and the resulting contagion effects on other markets. Using data for the ABX indexes of subprime CDO prices, we find strong evidence of contagion effects. In particular, we find that contagion effects spread first from lower-rated ABX indexes to higher-rated ABX indexes, and then from the subprime markets to the Treasury bond and stock markets. ABX index returns forecast stock and Treasury bond returns as much as three weeks ahead during the crisis. Furthermore, ABX index shocks are significantly related to contractions in the size of the short-term credit markets and increases in the trading activity of financial stocks over the next several weeks. These results provide support for the hypothesis that financial contagion was spread through liquidity and risk-premium channels. Current version: August 2008. UCLA Anderson School and NBER. I am very grateful for helpful discussions with Joshua Anderson, Vineer Bhansali, Bruce Carlin, Richard Clarida, Rajna Gibson, Rob- ert Gingrich, Hanno Lustig, Alfred Murata, Steve Schulist, and Jiang Wang, and for the comments of seminar participants at New York University, Pimco, and UCLA. All errors are my responsibility. ∗ 1. INTRODUCTION During the past year, financial markets have suffered catastrophic losses from the ongoing credit crisis. This crisis was initially...
Words: 10924 - Pages: 44
...do not distribute or copy without permission Roadmap for Presentation • Overview of various cases and interesting themes • Fundamentals of insider trading law • Compliance programs • Rule 10b5-1 trading plans • SEC investigations • Martha Stewart case: lessons and training 2 HEADING Shares sold in cases of insider trading often come from option exercises or restricted stock vesting. 3 Accounting scandals/fraud intertwined with insider trading. Insider trading cases more interesting to juries and easier for prosecutors to explain. Did the CEO sell stock knowing his company could not make its earnings targets without improperly booking revenue? 4 The SEC detects and prosecutes even small-profit cases. $38,000 in profits by former CFO. 5 Criminal charges are now more likely. Justice Department and local US Attorneys interested in these cases. Ex-Countrywide execs get probation terms for insider trading By ALEX VEIGA, AP Business Writer LOS ANGELES—November 26, 2007 Three former Countrywide Financial Corp. executives who pleaded guilty to criminal charges of insider trading were sentenced Monday to serve three years probation, the U.S. attorney's office said. They must also serve several hundred hours of community service and pay fines. In their plea agreements earlier this year, the executives admitted they used confidential data showing Countrywide would not meet Wall Street earnings projections for the third quarter of 2004. They then used the...
Words: 4596 - Pages: 19
...Strategic Management and Strategic Competitiveness Cathy Shaw Professor Etta Steed BUS499 Business Administration Capstone 16 January 2016 Globalization changes have impacted Burger King in the following ways; since the company began in 1953 with its first restaurant in Jacksonville, Florida and opened several locations across the United States, the company began its international expansion in 1969 with its first international franchise location in Canada, followed by Australia in 1971, and Europe in 1975. The setting up of franchises outside the United States was as a result of fast food opportunities arising outside the United States. So as to fully integrate in the international market, Burger King had to adopt and embrace globalization changes that were occurring at that time. Globalization changes that occurred in the past world and that continue to occur in the present world include the availability of different products, the emergence of new ideas, the integration of culture as well as the presence of new opportunities in new markets. With the emergence of globalization, technology is available for various parts of the world for the company to use. Such technology includes the use of the internet that will allow the company to communicate with business partners worldwide. The company also has the ability to set up a franchises in any part of the world. The company has over 13,000 outlets in 79 countries worldwide. Having a large global presence has enable the...
Words: 1117 - Pages: 5
...finance that underlie the engagement of the female’s movement with monetary markets and monetary rules. These gender heights happen at all stages: the micro stage (as well as the intra-family stage); the meso stage (manufacturing, banking, state organizations, taxation); and the macro stage (countrywide including internationally). The micro, meso, and macro stages of money have turned to be further inter-associated with internationalization. For instance, credits to growing nations from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank increase to the home supply of finance, causing high government spending and venture and/ or lowered foreign exchange deficits. Bilateral growth co-operation and World Bank lending always promote home credit organizations and schedules in growing nations. Through this manner, the 8-10 million families that take credit from micro-credit schedules are not directly reliant on international sources of money. Remittances from migrant employees create a considerable basis of foreign exchange in nations such as Philippines and Bangladesh. Accepting this appreciating of international fund like a firmly woven mesh of macro, meso, and micro stipulations, this essay studies the way international fund affects, and is affected through the distinguished economic ranks of women and men (The World Bank Group, 2013). In this essay, four sex biases of international fund are handled, which are: * The low number standing for females in monetary resolution making;...
Words: 3235 - Pages: 13
...vendor in order to get discount for the entire purchasing department, and Outback Steakhouse coupons. When this is discovered, the head of the company turned a blind eye because it is good for the balance sheet (Wikipedia, 2011). Having good ethic provides a clear conscience, and if there was an ethical problem, shared the advantage gained by cheating with the entire team will once again clear the conscience. Ethic in finance is important because it will provide a clear picture of the company. The leader of the company cannot see where the company can go if they do not know where the company is. However, accountant in a non-public company works for the leader and this agents’ fiduciary duty lies only with his or her principal. In this case, if the leaders asked the accountant to keep two set of books in order to make the company look more appealing before a public offering, then the accountant can justify this action as ethical. I included a quote below, where the environment of business promotes questionable behaviors in some firms. Unethical behaviour in business more...
Words: 1432 - Pages: 6
