Ten People Who Transformed the Mortgage Industry
October 21, 2015 10:00 AM
From thrift deregulation to government domination, the mortgage business is prone to dramatic shifts. Here are 10 people who share the credit, or the blame, for major industry changes.
Ronald Reagan and Jimmy Carter: The S&L Crisis
Reagan is often blamed for signing legislation that deregulated the thrift industry in the 1980s and led to widespread lending abuses, but so did his predecessor.
Lewis Ranieri: The Mortgage-Backed Security
"The father of the mortgage-backed security" regrets that the financial instrument he helped pioneer in the 1980s, when amplified by derivative bets, contributed to the Great Recession in the late 2000s.
Angelo Mozilo: The Rise of the Nonbank and Subprime
Mozilo's Countrywide was one of the first nonbanks to give traditional institutions a run for their money, until subprime lending competition tempted it and many other lenders into dangerously loosening underwriting and securitization standards.
Henry Paulson: Allowed Government to Back the GSEs
When the Treasury secretary in 2008 agreed to temporarily backstop Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, he put to rest any doubts about the government-sponsored enterprises' "implied" government guarantee. The two GSEs ended up dominating the post-recession mortgage market.
Sen. Chris Dodd and Rep. Barney Frank: The Dodd-Frank Act
From QM to TILA-RESPA integrated disclosures, most major industry reforms in recent years stem from the legislation passed by Congress in 2010.
Elizabeth Warren: The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
After Dodd-Frank passed, law professor Elizabeth Warren was appointed as a government advisor so her proposed Consumer Financial Protection Bureau could become a reality and more broadly regulate the industry.
Bill Emerson and Mike Cagney: Online Lenders Become Competitive
Emerson's Quicken Loans has shown in recent years that an online lender can be a contender, and marketplace lenders like Mike Cagney's Social Finance suggest it's the wave of the future.
