NMN: FDIC Chief Says Brokers Part of the Problem

The lead at National Mortgage News today is an interesting one, with FDIC chairman Sheila Barr taking a swing at brokers as partly to blame for the mortgage crisis:

Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Chairman Sheila Bair said Wednesday that mortgage wholesalers “need to know” who they are doing business with and blamed the subprime crisis partly on unregulated loan brokers. Speaking before a New York Bankers Association meeting in Washington, Ms. Bair — in response to a question from the audience — said brokers “are a big chunk of the problem … but we don’t regulate brokers.” Of the three largest subprime wholesalers in the United States — Countrywide Home Loans, HSBC Finance, and Option One — two (Countrywide and HSBC) are depositories, but just HSBC is regulated by the FDIC.