Shelter from subprime

Abstract

The US subprime banking crisis has proved to be more contagious than any previous financial crisis: Mexico in 1994, Asia in 1997-98, Russia in 1998, the dotcom bubble in 2002 and the Enron and WorldCom corporate scandals early this century. Subprime mortgages are risky or less than ideal loans or mortgages extended to borrowers with questionable credit worthiness. The crisis in the US subprime mortgage market came about because of the number of defaults on these mortgages and the consequent loss of faith in securities backed by these loans.