KANSAS CITY, Mo., Aug. 17 - As we disclosed previously, the tighter guidelines and adjusted pricing we have adopted will reduce loan originations until the secondary market shows signs of normalizing. This reduction in force includes stepping back temporarily from pursuing new loans in the wholesale market, a decision we are also seeing among some of our peer companies. For now, we believe this is the right thing to do economically. Our retail channel will be the dominant source of new loans in the coming months. We will follow through on the funding of loans already approved through the wholesale channel."

Read more…

Michael Strauss, the founder and chief executive of American Home Mortgage Investment (AHMIQ), has faced a swarm of problems in recent months. One of the biggest, fastest-growing mortgage lenders in the country, its shares had slipped from a high of $36.40 last December to $10.47 by late July as the housing crisis deepened.

On July 31, things got decidedly worse. After the Melville (N.Y.) company announced that it would delay its dividend amid growing cash woes, panicked investors fled, sending the shares tumbling $1.04 by the end of the day. Six days later, American Home Mortgage filed for bankruptcy in Delaware (see BusinessWeek.com, 7/30/07, "American Home’s Credit Crisis").

Now, could Strauss potentially face civil insider trading charges as well?

Read more…

Aug. 15 (Bloomberg) — Countrywide Financial Corp., the biggest U.S. mortgage lender, fell for the fifth consecutive day on the New York Stock Exchange after Merrill Lynch & Co. raised the possibility of bankruptcy.

“Effective insolvency'’ would result should creditors force Countrywide to sell assets at depressed prices or investors lose confidence in its ability to raise cash, Kenneth Bruce, a Merrill analyst in San Francisco, said in a research note today.

Shareholders shouldn’t “understate the importance of liquidity,'’ Bruce wrote. “If liquidations occur in a weak market, then it is possible for CFC to go bankrupt,'’ said Bruce, who downgraded Countrywide to “sell'’ from “buy.'’ The company trades under the ticker CFC.

Read more…

PARIS (AP) — A major French bank, BNP Paribas, announced Thursday that it was suspending three of its asset-backed securities funds, saying it could no longer value them accurately because of problems in the U.S. subprime mortgage market.The announcement by the bank’s BNP Paribas Investment Partners unit sent shock waves through an already sensitive money market.

The bank, France’s largest bank by market value, said it was suspending three funds worth a total of 2 billion euros ($2.75 billion): Parvest Dynamic ABS, BNP Paribas ABS Euribor and BNP Paribas ABS Eonia. All funds combined at BNP Paribas Investment Partners are worth more than 350 billion euros ($482.79 billion).

Read more…