The subprime mortgage market—which consists of loans to borrowers with high credit risk and the mechanisms that have evolved to originate, service, and finance those loans—is rapidly contracting due to mounting defaults and delinquencies. As a result, a number of allegations have been made against market participants in recent subprime-related lawsuits.

To address these matters from an economic perspective, NERA’s Securities and Finance Practice has created NERA Insights: Subprime Lending Series, a series of papers dedicated to the analysis of the subprime lending crisis. In Part III of the series, “Subprime Securities Litigation: Key Players, Rising Stakes, and Emerging Trends,” NERA Senior Vice President Faten Sabry and co-authors Anmol Sinha and Sungi Lee examine the ongoing subprime mortgage-related securities litigation to assess the trends, major players, and issues. The paper traces the litigation to suits that initially involved mortgage lenders, then the issuers and underwriters of securities backed by mortgages, and now investors who either purchased these securities or packaged them into other securities. The authors report the types of allegations brought by and against the different market participants involved with subprime assets—mortgages, mortgage backed securities, collateralized debt obligations (CDOs), etc.—compiled from various sources.

“Subprime Securities Litigation: Key Players, Rising Stakes, and Emerging Trends” has been published in the Fall 2008 issue of The Journal of Alternative Investments.