Principal Consultant, Garrett, Watts & Co
Member of the Financial Services Council
Joe Garrett is the Principal of Garrett, Watts and Company, a San Francisco-based advisory firm offering mortgage banking consulting to banks, warehouse lenders, thrifts and mortgage companies. Mr. Garrett served as Chief Executive Officer and President of Sequoia National Bank and as Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of American Liberty Bank. Mr. Garrett has over 30 years of experience in the mortgage banking and lending industry, with an emphasis on securitization and secondary market transactions. He currently provides advisory expertise for financial institutions in areas of commercial real estate lending, mortgage banking, and disposition of non-performing loans. He has taught Real Estate Finance at the University of California at Berkeley, and served as Chairman of the Berkeley Housing Authority and Commissioner on the Berkeley Redevelopment Agency. (This is me - Update Profile)
Opinions and analyses expressed in GLG News are solely those of the author. See the Terms of Use for details.
It's the loans, not the deposits
October 13, 2008
Wells Fargo scuppers Citigroup's takeover of Wachovia | www.guardian.co.uk
Sometimes you don't want to get what you've been hoping for. Wachovia has a top deposit gathering franchise, and they clearly help complete much of the Wells Fargo footprint.
China investment in U.S. bank first of many yet to come
October 15, 2007
Chinese bank in landmark US investment | www.ft.com
Asian-American banks, most of which are in California, are very cheap, small enough to be easily acquired, and will likely be acquisitions targets for Chinese banks looking to diversify and expand. The biggest of these banks are UCBH, in which an investment has just been announced, and East-West Bank, with market caps of $1.9 billion and $2.2 billion respectively. They get smaller from here, the point being that these would be bite-sized deals.
Kazahk banking system relatively heathy
October 1, 2007
Could Kazakhstan suffer a credit crisis? | www.financeasia.com
There just was, and to an extent still is, a global credit crisis, and financial system in Kazahkstan seems to have weathered it.
September 24, 2007
Accredited, Lone Star amend merger deal | www.reuters.com
What a strange marriage, with Lone Star refusing to come to the wedding ceremony, Accredited sueing them, and the two eventually tieing the knot. Lone Star must have some vision for what to do with Accredited, but at the moment, there is almost no market for sub-prime loans. The only logical plan is that Accredited will be the Last Man Standing when the sub-prime sector comes back to life. It's actually a valid business, but one that was trashed with lax credit standards and financial engineering that allowed sub-prime loans to end up in securities, some of which now had triple-a ratings. Sub-prime works when you limit the loan-to-value ratios. It worked just fine when the max LTV was 70%. It didn't workwhen these moved up to 95% or even 100%. At some point, new, tighter standards will emerge, and investors will tip-toe back in. The yield requirements will be higher and the loan-to-value ratios will be lower, and 3-5 years from now, people will have forgotten 2007.
A win-win for BofA and Countrywide
August 27, 2007
Bank of America to Invest $2 Billion in Countrywide | online.wsj.com
It's good for the industry. Sends a signal that there will be winners, that there will be money to be made in this business. It does seem, however, like very expensive capital for Countrywide, especially when you compare it to their preferred converts last year or earlier this year which were in the 2-3% range and out of the money. This seeminlgy implies how desperate Countrywide must have been.
| Study Group Name | No. Members |
|---|---|
| Experts in the Leisure & Lodging Council | 4887 |
| Experts in the Automotive Council | 3422 |
| Sub-Prime Lending Experts | 590 |
| Subprime Mortgage Experts (US) | 531 |
| Structured Finance Experts | 382 |
May 8, 2007 | Chicago
GLGi: Subprime Mortgage OutlookMarch 29, 2007 | Los Angeles
GLGi: Sub Prime Mortgage Outlook for 2007March 22, 2007 | San Francisco
GLGi: Sub Prime Mortgage Outlook for 2007