Law Commons^™

Predatory Structured Finance, Christopher L. Peterson

ExpressO

Predatory lending is a real, pervasive, and destructive problem as demonstrated by record settlements, jury awards, media exposes, and a large body of empirical scholarship. Currently the national debate over predatory mortgage lending is shifting to the controversial question of who should bear liability for predatory lending practices. In today’s subprime mortgage market, originators and brokers quickly assign home loans through a complex and opaque series of transactions involving as many as a dozen different strategically organized companies. Loans are typically transferred into large pools, and then income from those loans is “structured” to appeal to different types of investors. …

The False Promise Of De-Regulation In Banking, Jonathan R. Macey

ExpressO

Jonathan R. Macey

The False Promise of De-Regulation in Banking

Abstract

This Article presents new approach to the concept of "deregulation" in financial services and particularly banking. Generally regulatory policy is thought to involve more or less straightforward choices between regulation and deregulation. Those most concerned with market failure and equality of outcomes favoring regulation and those with faith in markets and concerns about efficient outcomes favoring deregulation.

This Article shows that government regulation, sometimes in heavy doses, is necessary in order for private markets to function effectively. Consequently, government has in important role to play in fostering markets. The …

Islamic Financial Structures As Alternatives To International Loan Agreements: Challenges For American Financial Institutions, Babback Sabahi

ExpressO

In the past few decades, the Muslim countries have witnessed considerable economic growth. The markets of these countries spanning from North Africa to South East Asia, are expanding at a fast pace, and gradually are turning into important international economic centers. The expansion and sophistication of the Islamic markets, as well as increasing demand for Islamic financial products by borrowers, have spurred a movement toward Islamization of different aspects of economic activities in these markets. This movement has resulted in the creation of an Islamic financial market alongside the conventional financial markets. The data on the size of the Islamic …

Credit Where It Counts: The Community Reinvestment Act And Its Critics, Michael S. Barr

ExpressO

Despite the depth and breadth of U.S. credit markets, low- and moderate-income communities and minority borrowers have not historically enjoyed full access to credit. The Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) was enacted to help overcome barriers to credit for low- and moderate-income communities, and minority borrowers. Scholars have long leveled numerous critiques against CRA as unnecessary, ineffectual, costly, and lawless. But I argue, using recent empirical evidence, that CRA has enhanced access to credit for low-income, moderate-income, and minority borrowers at relatively low cost. I contend that market failures and discrimination exacerbate credit problems in low-income and minority communities and justify …

Book Review: Benjamin Geva, Bank Collections And Payment Transactions, Arnold S. Rosenberg

ExpressO

The author reviews Geva, Bank Collections and Payment Transactions (Oxford University Press, 2001). The book is the first comprehensive work on the comparative law of checks and electronic funds transfers, and attempts to identify a universal "law merchant" governing checks and electronic funds transfers in these bodies of law.