A news article from New Jersey examines smaller local banks and their involvement with subprime lending. These smaller banks left most of the risky lending to HSBC and Barclays.
Peoples Bank approved just 12 home loans in all of 2007 at rates significantly above rates for prime borrowers, the data shows. That represented less than 5 percent of home loans originated by the bank. American Savings originated one such loan.
That compares with the 196 subprime loans done by London-based HSBC subsidiary Beneficial, which represented 76 percent of its business in the two counties. Or the 99 done by Equifirst Corp., a subsidiary of London-based Barclays PLC, which represented 96 percent of its business here.
Reaping what they sowed
The toll of the subprime crisis was made plain by the fate of those companies that engaged almost exclusively in high-priced lending to people with shaky credit.
HSBC started closing down its Beneficial subsidiary in March and has taken a $10.6 billion loss on its U.S. businesses because of the subprime collapse. Barclays PLC closed down Equifirst a month earlier after sustaining deep losses on its U.S. investment.
See the article here.
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