IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/jfinan/v79y2024i1p129-172.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Neglected Risks in the Communication of Residential Mortgage‐Backed Securities Offerings

Author

Listed:
  • HAROLD H. ZHANG
  • FENG ZHAO
  • XIAOFEI ZHAO

Abstract

Examining the contractual disclosures during the sale of private‐label residential mortgage‐backed securities before the 2008 financial crisis, we find that textual contents in the risk‐factor section predict subsequent losses and yet were not reflected in pricing. Insurance companies, especially life insurers and insurers with low regulatory capital ratios, are more exposed to textual risks. Consistent with issuers hedging litigation risks with disclosure, we find that textual contents are associated with second‐lien underreporting and preissuance written communications. Overall, we find that investors neglected risks in the purportedly safe assets before the crisis.

Suggested Citation

  • Harold H. Zhang & Feng Zhao & Xiaofei Zhao, 2024. "Neglected Risks in the Communication of Residential Mortgage‐Backed Securities Offerings," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 79(1), pages 129-172, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:jfinan:v:79:y:2024:i:1:p:129-172
    DOI: 10.1111/jofi.13278
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/jofi.13278
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/jofi.13278?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    --->

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Nicola Gennaioli & Andrei Shleifer & Robert W. Vishny, 2013. "A Model of Shadow Banking," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 68(4), pages 1331-1363, August.
    2. Hanley, Kathleen Weiss & Hoberg, Gerard, 2012. "Litigation risk, strategic disclosure and the underpricing of initial public offerings," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 103(2), pages 235-254.
    3. Skinner, Dj, 1994. "Why Firms Voluntarily Disclose Bad-News," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(1), pages 38-60.
    4. Andrew Ellul & Chotibhak Jotikasthira & Christian T. Lundblad & Yihui Wang, 2015. "Is Historical Cost Accounting a Panacea? Market Stress, Incentive Distortions, and Gains Trading," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 70(6), pages 2489-2538, December.
    5. Rajan, Uday & Seru, Amit & Vig, Vikrant, 2015. "The failure of models that predict failure: Distance, incentives, and defaults," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 115(2), pages 237-260.
    6. Chernenko, Sergey & Hanson, Samuel G. & Sunderam, Adi, 2016. "Who neglects risk? Investor experience and the credit boom," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 122(2), pages 248-269.
    7. Agarwal, Sumit & Amromin, Gene & Ben-David, Itzhak & Chomsisengphet, Souphala & Evanoff, Douglas D., 2014. "Predatory lending and the subprime crisis," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 113(1), pages 29-52.
    8. Tim Loughran & Bill Mcdonald, 2014. "Measuring Readability in Financial Disclosures," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 69(4), pages 1643-1671, August.
    9. Bo Becker & Victoria Ivashina, 2015. "Reaching for Yield in the Bond Market," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 70(5), pages 1863-1902, October.
    10. Gerard Hoberg & Vojislav Maksimovic, 2022. "Product Life Cycles in Corporate Finance," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 35(9), pages 4249-4299.
    11. Kathleen Weiss Hanley, 2010. "The Information Content of IPO Prospectuses," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 23(7), pages 2821-2864, July.
    12. Ricardo J. Caballero & Emmanuel Farhi & Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas, 2016. "Safe Asset Scarcity and Aggregate Demand," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 106(5), pages 513-518, May.
    13. Gus De Franco & Ole†Kristian Hope & Dushyantkumar Vyas & Yibin Zhou, 2015. "Analyst Report Readability," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 32(1), pages 76-104, March.
    14. Krishnamurthy, Arvind & Vissing-Jorgensen, Annette, 2015. "The impact of Treasury supply on financial sector lending and stability," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 118(3), pages 571-600.
    15. Adelino, Manuel & Scott Frame, W. & Gerardi, Kristopher, 2017. "The effect of large investors on asset quality: Evidence from subprime mortgage securities," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(C), pages 34-51.
    16. Kathleen Weiss Hanley & Gerard Hoberg, 2019. "Dynamic Interpretation of Emerging Risks in the Financial Sector," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 32(12), pages 4543-4603.
    17. Li, Feng, 2008. "Annual report readability, current earnings, and earnings persistence," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 45(2-3), pages 221-247, August.
    18. Skinner, Douglas J., 1997. "Earnings disclosures and stockholder lawsuits," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 23(3), pages 249-282, November.
    19. Pedro Bordalo & Nicola Gennaioli & Andrei Shleifer, 2018. "Diagnostic Expectations and Credit Cycles," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 73(1), pages 199-227, February.
    20. Ing-Haw Cheng & Sahil Raina & Wei Xiong, 2014. "Wall Street and the Housing Bubble," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 104(9), pages 2797-2829, September.
    21. Gennaioli, Nicola & Shleifer, Andrei & Vishny, Robert, 2012. "Neglected risks, financial innovation, and financial fragility," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 104(3), pages 452-468.
    22. Gary Gorton, 2017. "The History and Economics of Safe Assets," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 9(1), pages 547-586, September.
    23. Cem Demiroglu & Christopher James, 2012. "How Important is Having Skin in the Game? Originator-Sponsor Affiliation and Losses on Mortgage-backed Securities," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 25(11), pages 3217-3258.
    24. Matthew Baron & Wei Xiong, 2017. "Credit Expansion and Neglected Crash Risk," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 132(2), pages 713-764.
    25. Xuanjuan Chen & Eric Higgins & Han Xia & Hong Zou & Wei Jiang, 2020. "Do Financial Regulations Shape the Functioning of Financial Institutions’ Risk Management in Asset-Backed Securities Investment?," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 33(6), pages 2506-2553.
    26. Nicola Gennaioli & Andrei Shleifer & Robert Vishny, 2015. "Neglected Risks: The Psychology of Financial Crises," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 105(5), pages 310-314, May.
    27. Benjamin J. Keys & Amit Seru & Vikrant Vig, 2012. "Lender Screening and the Role of Securitization: Evidence from Prime and Subprime Mortgage Markets," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 25(7), pages 2071-2108.
    28. Tobias Berg & Valentin Burg & Ana Gombović & Manju Puri, 2020. "On the Rise of FinTechs: Credit Scoring Using Digital Footprints," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 33(7), pages 2845-2897.
    29. Lawrence, Alastair, 2013. "Individual investors and financial disclosure," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 56(1), pages 130-147.
    30. Adam Ashcraft & Paul Goldsmith-Pinkham & Peter Hull & James Vickery, 2011. "Credit Ratings and Security Prices in the Subprime MBS Market," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 101(3), pages 115-119, May.
    31. S. P. Kothari & Susan Shu & Peter D. Wysocki, 2009. "Do Managers Withhold Bad News?," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 47(1), pages 241-276, March.
    32. Casey Dougal & Joseph Engelberg & Diego García & Christopher A. Parsons, 2012. "Journalists and the Stock Market," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 25(3), pages 639-679.
    33. Claire Célérier & Boris Vallée, 2017. "Catering to Investors Through Security Design: Headline Rate and Complexity," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 132(3), pages 1469-1508.
    34. Craig B. Merrill & Taylor D. Nadauld & Philip E. Strahan, 2019. "Final Demand for Structured Finance Securities," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 65(1), pages 390-412, January.
    35. Nathan Foley-Fisher & Borghan Narajabad & Stéphane Verani, 2020. "Self-Fulfilling Runs: Evidence from the US Life Insurance Industry," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 128(9), pages 3520-3569.
    36. Eric Arentsen & David C. Mauer & Brian Rosenlund & Harold H. Zhang & Feng Zhao, 2015. "Subprime Mortgage Defaults and Credit Default Swaps," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 70(2), pages 689-731, April.
    37. Zhenyu Gao & Michael Sockin & Wei Xiong & Itay Goldstein, 2020. "Economic Consequences of Housing Speculation," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 33(11), pages 5248-5287.
    38. Wei Jiang & Ashlyn Aiko Nelson & Edward Vytlacil, 2014. "Securitization and Loan Performance: Ex Ante and Ex Post Relations in the Mortgage Market," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 27(2), pages 454-483.
    39. Bloomfield, Robert, 2008. "Discussion of "Annual report readability, current earnings, and earnings persistence"," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 45(2-3), pages 248-252, August.
    40. Atif Mian & Amir Sufi, 2009. "The Consequences of Mortgage Credit Expansion: Evidence from the U.S. Mortgage Default Crisis," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 124(4), pages 1449-1496.
    41. Tomasz Piskorski & Amit Seru & James Witkin, 2015. "Asset Quality Misrepresentation by Financial Intermediaries: Evidence from the RMBS Market," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 70(6), pages 2635-2678, December.
    42. Nadauld, Taylor D. & Sherlund, Shane M., 2013. "The impact of securitization on the expansion of subprime credit," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 107(2), pages 454-476.
    43. Andrew F. Haughwout & Donghoon Lee & Joseph Tracy & Wilbert Van der Klaauw, 2011. "Real estate investors, the leverage cycle, and the housing market crisis," Staff Reports 514, Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
    44. Manuel Adelino & Antoinette Schoar & Felipe Severino, 2018. "The Role of Housing and Mortgage Markets in the Financial Crisis," Annual Review of Financial Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 10(1), pages 25-41, November.
    45. Manuel Adelino & Antoinette Schoar & Felipe Severino, 2016. "Editor's Choice Loan Originations and Defaults in the Mortgage Crisis: The Role of the Middle Class," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 29(7), pages 1635-1670.
    46. Ellul, Andrew & Lundblad, Christian T & Wang, Yihui & Jotikasthira, Chotibhak, 2015. "Is Historical Cost Accounting a Panacea? Market Stress, Incentive Distortions, and Gains Trading," CEPR Discussion Papers 10450, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    47. José María Liberti & Mitchell A. Petersen, 2018. "Information: Hard and Soft," NBER Working Papers 25075, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    48. Tim Loughran & Bill Mcdonald, 2016. "Textual Analysis in Accounting and Finance: A Survey," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(4), pages 1187-1230, September.
    49. Amiyatosh Purnanandam, 2011. "Originate-to-distribute Model and the Subprime Mortgage Crisis," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 24(6), pages 1881-1915.
    50. Hoberg, Gerard & Lewis, Craig, 2017. "Do fraudulent firms produce abnormal disclosure?," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 58-85.
    51. Andra C Ghent & Walter N Torous & Rossen I Valkanov, 2019. "Complexity in Structured Finance," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 86(2), pages 694-722.
    52. Benjamin J. Keys & Tanmoy Mukherjee & Amit Seru & Vikrant Vig, 2010. "Did Securitization Lead to Lax Screening? Evidence from Subprime Loans," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 125(1), pages 307-362.
    53. John M. Griffin & Gonzalo Maturana, 2016. "Editor's Choice Who Facilitated Misreporting in Securitized Loans?," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 29(2), pages 384-419.
    54. Tim Loughran & Bill Mcdonald, 2011. "When Is a Liability Not a Liability? Textual Analysis, Dictionaries, and 10‐Ks," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 66(1), pages 35-65, February.
    55. Mark J. Garmaise, 2015. "Borrower Misreporting and Loan Performance," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 70(1), pages 449-484, February.
    56. Adi Sunderam, 2015. "Money Creation and the Shadow Banking System," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 28(4), pages 939-977.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Bin Wei & Feng Zhao, 2022. "Racial Disparities in Mortgage Lending: New Evidence Based on Processing Time," FRB Atlanta Working Paper 2022-1, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta.
    2. Abdullah Yavas & Shuang Zhu, 2024. "Misreporting of second liens in portfolio mortgages and privately securitized mortgages," Real Estate Economics, American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association, vol. 52(1), pages 73-109, January.
    3. Griffin, John M. & Kruger, Samuel & Maturana, Gonzalo, 2021. "What drove the 2003–2006 house price boom and subsequent collapse? Disentangling competing explanations," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 141(3), pages 1007-1035.
    4. Deeksha Gupta, 2018. "Too Much Skin-in-the-Game? The Effect of Mortgage Market Concentration on Credit and House Prices," 2018 Meeting Papers 512, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    5. José María Liberti & Mitchell A. Petersen, 2018. "Information: Hard and Soft," NBER Working Papers 25075, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. Blankespoor, Elizabeth & deHaan, Ed & Marinovic, Iván, 2020. "Disclosure processing costs, investors’ information choice, and equity market outcomes: A review," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(2).
    7. Hibbeln, Martin & Osterkamp, Werner, 2024. "The Impact of Risk Retention on Moral Hazard in the Securitization Market," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 163(C).
    8. Floros, Ioannis & White, Joshua T., 2016. "Qualified residential mortgages and default risk," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 86-104.
    9. Danial Hemmings & Lynn Hodgkinson & Gwion Williams, 2020. "It's OK to pay well, if you write well: The effects of remuneration disclosure readability," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 47(5-6), pages 547-586, May.
    10. Deku, Solomon Y. & Kara, Alper & Zhou, Yifan, 2019. "Securitization, bank behaviour and financial stability: A systematic review of the recent empirical literature," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 245-254.
    11. Tim Zhang, 2022. "Uniform Mortgage Regulation and Distortion in Capital Allocation [Loan originations and defaults in the mortgage crisis: the role of the middle class]," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 26(4), pages 1011-1050.
    12. Minxing Sun & Weike Xu, 2024. "Short selling and readability in financial disclosures: A controlled experiment," The Financial Review, Eastern Finance Association, vol. 59(2), pages 265-292, May.
    13. Gene Amromin & Jennifer Huang & Clemens Sialm & Edward Zhong, 2018. "Complex Mortgages [Why don’t lenders renegotiate more home mortgages? Redefaults, self-cures, and securitization]," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 22(6), pages 1975-2007.
    14. Solomon Y. Deku & Alper Kara & Nodirbek Karimov, 2021. "Do investors value frequent issuers in securitization?," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 57(4), pages 1247-1282, November.
    15. repec:bin:bpeajo:v:49:y:2019:i:2018-01:p:429-513 is not listed on IDEAS
    16. Marco Di Maggio & Amir Kermani & Sanket Korgaonkar, 2019. "Partial Deregulation and Competition: Effects on Risky Mortgage Origination," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 65(10), pages 4676-4711, October.
    17. Chau, Michael & Lin, Chih-Yung & Lin, Tse-Chun, 2020. "Wisdom of crowds before the 2007–2009 global financial crisis," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 48(C).
    18. Piskorski, Tomasz & Seru, Amit, 2021. "Debt relief and slow recovery: A decade after Lehman," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 141(3), pages 1036-1059.
    19. Nodirbek Karimov & Alper Kara & Gareth Downing, 2021. "The impact of legal advisor‐issuer cooperation on securitization pricing," Financial Markets, Institutions & Instruments, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 30(5), pages 167-199, December.
    20. Christian Leuz & Peter D. Wysocki, 2016. "The Economics of Disclosure and Financial Reporting Regulation: Evidence and Suggestions for Future Research," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(2), pages 525-622, May.
    21. Adelino, Manuel & Gerardi, Kristopher & Hartman-Glaser, Barney, 2019. "Are lemons sold first? Dynamic signaling in the mortgage market," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 132(1), pages 1-25.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:jfinan:v:79:y:2024:i:1:p:129-172. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/afaaaea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.