The subprime mortgage crisis : asset securitization and interbank lending

Thesis (Ph.D. (Applied Mathematics))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2010.

Subprime residential mortgage loan securitization and its associated risks have been a major topic of discussion since the onset of the subprime mortgage crisis (SMC) in 2007. In this regard, the thesis addresses the issues of subprime residential mortgage loan (RML) securitization in discrete-, continuous-and discontinuous-time and their connections with the SMC. In this regard, the main issues to be addressed are discussed in Chapters 2, 3 and 4. In Chapter 2, we investigate the risk allocation choices of an investing bank (IB) that has to decide between risky securitized subprime RMLs and riskless Treasuries. This issue is discussed in a discrete-time framework with IB being considered to be regret- and risk-averse before and during the SMC, respectively. We conclude that if IB takes regret into account it will be exposed to higher risk when the difference between the expected returns on securitized subprime RMLs and Treasuries is small. However, there is low risk exposure when this difference is high. Furthermore, we assess how regret can influence IB's view - as a swap protection buyer - of the rate of return on credit default swaps (CDSs), as measured by the premium based on default swap spreads. We find that before the SMC, regret increases IB's willingness to pay lower premiums for CDSs when its securitized RML portfolio is considered to be safe. On the other hand, both risk- and regret-averse IBs pay the same CDS premium when their securitized RML portfolio is considered to be risky. Chapter 3 solves a stochastic optimal credit default insurance problem in continuous-time that has the cash outflow rate for satisfying depositor obligations, the investment in securitized loans and credit default insurance as controls. As far as the latter is concerned, we compute the credit default swap premium and accrued premium by considering the credit rating of the securitized mortgage loans. In Chapter 4, we consider a problem of IB investment in subprime residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBSs) and Treasuries in discontinuous-time. In order to accomplish this, we develop a Levy process-based model of jump diffusion-type for IB's investment in subprime RMBSs and Treasuries. This model incorporates subprime RMBS losses which can be associated with credit risk. Furthermore, we use variance to measure such risk, and assume that the risk is bounded by a certain constraint. We are now able to set-up a mean-variance optimization problem for IB's investment which determines the optimal proportion of funds that needs to be invested in subprime RMBSs and Treasuries subject to credit risk measured by the variance of IE's investment. In the sequel, we also consider a mean swaps-at-risk (SaR) optimization problem for IB's investment which determines the optimal portfolio which consists of subprime RMBSs and Treasuries subject to the protection by CDSs required against the possible losses. In this regard, we define SaR as indicative to IB on how much protection from swap protection seller it must have in order to cover the losses that might occur from credit events. Moreover, SaR is expressed in terms of Value-at-Risk (VaR). Finally, Chapter 5 provides an analysis of discrete-, continuous- and discontinuous-time models for subprime RML securitization discussed in the aforementioned chapters and their connections with the SMC. The work presented in this thesis is based on 7 peer-reviewed international journal articles (see [25], [44], [45], [46], [47], [48] and [55]), 4 peer-reviewed chapters in books (see [42], [50j, [51J and [52]) and 2 peer-reviewed conference proceedings papers (see [11] and [12]). Moreover, the article [49] is currently being prepared for submission to an lSI accredited journal.

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