I am happy to announce that the Journal of Financial Crime has published some of my initial findings on the ways the United States has sought to hold the leading banks to account for the financial crisis and to assess the validity of the methods used. The full research and findings will be published in the inaugural issue of the Journal of Financial Crime, in a two-part series in January 2016. As we lead up to the release of my next book, due out November 2015 -- which focuses on the collapse of Lehman Brothers -- the articles in the Journal of Financial Crime may be of interest to those who, like me, seek to understand what happened and, more importantly, how it could happen again if the right stops are not put in place. 

I will be in the United States the last two weeks of September and an hoping to meet with business professionals, politicians, journalists and other academics to discuss my work and the current state of affairs in the world. To schedule a meeting while I am in New York City and/or Washington DC September 22 - Oct 2, please call 800-974-7753 or email my publicist Alfred Martin at Impact Communications.

Click here to read the summary of my initial findings in the Journal of Financial Crime.

All best,
Dr. Oonagh McDonald, CBE

I have been Chair of the Fairbanking Mark Assessment Panel for the Fairbanking Foundation since November 2013. The Foundation is a registered charity, which encourages and helps banking institutions to improve the financial well-being of their customers. On the October 20th we will be hosting an event, which you may find interesting.

The Foundation achieves its aims through a combination of:

• Customer research to help the industry better understand what drives financial well-being
•  An independent assessment of banking products and the  publication of the results - the Fairbanking Ratings Report
• The Fairbanking Mark certification scheme which helps identify the leading products available and encourages competition between providers

It is my role in the Foundation to lead the independent certification panel and ensure that any certified products meet rigorous and provable standards. These Fairbanking Marks indicate that a product has been thoroughly tested, proving through independent research that it has made a tangible, meaningful and positive difference to the customers.

FAIRBANKING MARKS IN THE UK

Does it work? Well from a low-key start in 2008, today more than one third of the UK adult population relies on a financial product with a Fairbanking Mark.

Here are two examples:

1: RBS, the UK’s biggest bank, now has a credit card with the Fairbanking Mark. It helps their customers avoid getting into financial difficulties by using text messages to remind customers when payments are due, making it easy to check balances at any time, and providing plenty of options for paying off all or part of the bill. Most creatively, the product shows how long it will take to pay off if the customer pays even a little more than the minimum. With advice from the Fairbanking Foundation, the bank found that explaining the benefits of paying off a little extra every month in percentage terms did not drive a significant change in behavior. By contrast, by demonstrating that a little more cash paid each month (as a dollar figure) allows the customer to pay off the balance in less than half the time – enough to encourage a strong positive change.

2: The highest level of Fairbanking marks have already been awarded to three credit unions, Central Liverpool Credit Union and London Capital Credit Union.

All provide loan products that meet three specific aims: 

• Ensuring that borrowers properly understand how much they can afford to borrow
• Providing a variety of ways to pay extra, early, to minimize debt
• Helping the customer to act in the best way in the event they have an unexpected change in circumstances

SPECIAL EVENT OCTOBER 20, 2015

On the evening of October 20, 2015, we will be running our annual event the Guildhall in London where we will lay out the principles and progress behind the initiative, announce the latest Mark holders, and open up a challenging debate with senior figures from the industry. If you would like to know more about this event, please contact ian.benn@fairbanking.org.uk

TRAVEL TO THE U.S. IN 2015

I will be traveling to the U.S. in 2015 and would be happy to speak on the following topics:

• Why the 2008 financial crisis still matters in 2015 and beyond
• How helping more Americans achieve the American Dream of home ownership turned into a nightmare for so many
• What the U.S. needs to do now to avoid another financial crisis

I am currently slated to be in New York City and Washington, D.C., the last two weeks of September, when I will be meeting with interested parties to discuss any and all aspects of my research -- I am especially eager to share the research that the Journal of Financial Crime will be publishing soon. 

I will be again in New York City the first week of November, when I will be doing interviews related to my forthcoming book which takes a deep dive into the cause and ramifications of the collapse of Lehman Brothers. I have completed the book manuscript and a well-known firm that specializes in producing books with an academic tilt has agreed to publish it. Publication dates is the first week of November 2015. Please follow me on Twitter (https://twitter.com/oonaghmcdonald2) for breaking news and announcements.

Watch for additional blogs from me, here on www.OonaghMcDonald.com, I’ll be revealing my latest research, which will be subsequently published in the Journal of Financial Crime, here on this blog.

SPEAKING AND INTERVIEW REQUESTS

If you are planning a meeting and would welcome a thorough discussion on the U.S. mortgage meltdown – not just what happened and why but what is happening now, I would be delighted to explore possible opportunities with you. My contact information can be found on this site.

If you are a journalist interested in the banking crisis, I am available for radio and telephone interviews. Please contact my publicist to schedule a time to speak. Also, I will be in the United States for two weeks at the end of September and one week at the beginning of November, so perhaps we could even meet in person.

All best,
Dr. Oonagh McDonald, CBE

Many of the underlying dynamics that produced the housing crisis are still going on and pose a significant risk of another financial crisis happening.

While the last meltdown is technically past, there has been little attempt to change the institutional behaviors that led to the crisis in the first place.

A QUICK LOOK AT THE PAST

An idealistic effort begun by the Clinton Administration to promote a large increase in home ownership quickly got out of control. What followed was a vast web of under-regulated partnerships of government agencies with banks, thrifts, mortgage brokers, appraisers, loan servicers, builders and sales agents.

Inevitably, the combination of easy money, institutional backscratching, inflated property values, dubious accounting and outright fraud all caused the meltdown in the first place.  

While millions of Americans lost their homes and even their retirement savings, many executives in banks and government-sponsored enterprises made millions of dollars from the crisis.

Today nearly nine out of ten mortgages are still insured or guaranteed by these government-sponsored mortgage giants. Yet Congress, regulators and the public have little understanding of what went wrong, let alone how to prevent it happening again.

IS THE DANGER REALLY PAST?

There is the distinct possibility that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac could be misused again to create another sub-prime market if the U.S. does not focus attention and fix the legislative loopholes and lax oversight so prevalent in the last crisis. A major part of the risk of another mortgage market meltdown lies in recognizing that those being appointed to positions of power at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac do not understand the economic fundamentals of the organization they lead.

MY PLANS IN 2015

I will be traveling to the U.S. in 2015 and would be happy to speak on the following topics:

• Why the 2008 financial crisis still matters in 2015 and beyond
• How helping more Americans achieve the American Dream of home ownership turned into a nightmare for so many
• What the U.S. needs to do now to avoid another financial crisis

I am also currently working with a major publishing house in the U.S. We’ll be revealing the topic and title of my next book this summer 2015. Please follow me on Twitter (https://twitter.com/oonaghmcdonald2) for breaking news and announcements.

Watch for additional blogs from me, here on www.OonaghMcDonald.com, in 2015. I’ll be doing new research on what is going on with Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae now. One of the initial points I’ll touch on is how the regulators and authorities are imposing huge fines on large banks who are buying Fannie and Freddie, where the money goes and who is being rewarded.

SPEAKING AND INTERVIEW REQUESTS

If you are planning a meeting and would welcome a thorough discussion on the U.S. mortgage meltdown – not just what happened and why but what is happening now, I would be delighted to explore possible opportunities with you. My contact information can be found on this site.

If you are a journalist interested in the banking crisis, I am available for radio and telephone interviews. Please contact my publicist to schedule a time to speak.

All best,
Dr. Oonagh McDonald, CBE

The emphasis in financial regulation changes over time. At present, macroeconomic indicators are thought to be more important than micro-supervision, and especially assessing the people involved in leading major financial institutions in particular. This is the point of my article in Financial World.