Schumer Denies Remarks Caused IndyMac’s Failure

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The New York Sun

NEW YORK — Senator Schumer today defended himself against claims by regulators that he was partially to blame for a run on IndyMac Bancorp Inc. that led to the bank’s takeover by the government Friday.

At a news conference today, the New York Democrat deflected blame cast upon him by regulators for causing a run on the bank that saw depositors withdraw more than $1.3 billion during the 11 days after Mr. Schumer released a letter about the possible risks of IndyMac failing.

“The breadth and depth of the problems of IndyMac were created and apparent for years and they accelerated in the last six months,” Mr. Schumer said. “Everything that was talked about in our letter was already public. So there were no new revelations in our letter at all.”

On Friday, the Office of Thrift Supervision transferred control of IndyMac to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. because it did not think the lender could meet its depositors’ demands.

IndyMac is the largest regulated thrift to fail and the second largest financial institution to close in American history, regulators said after taking control of the bank.

As of March 31, IndyMac had $19.06 billion in total deposits.

Regulators pinned part of IndyMac’s recent problems on Mr. Schumer’s June 26 letter causing alarm with depositors, leading to the run on the bank that that essentially sapped it of the liquidity needed to continue functioning properly.

During the housing boom earlier in the decade, IndyMac was one of the largest lenders of alt-A loans — mortgages given to customers with minor credit trouble or that did not have the proper documentation to receive a traditional, prime loan.

Mr. Schumer was quick to point out today that IndyMac is an outlier among banks because it was heavily involved in originating riskier mortgages than traditional community and regional banks.

Defaults among alt-A mortgages, like many other nontraditional loans, rapidly increased over the past year, forcing banks like IndyMac to set aside more money to cover defaults.

It also made it difficult for IndyMac to sell pools of mortgages — known as mortgage-backed securities — because investors shied away from bonds backed by the troubled loans. That left IndyMac searching for new ways to generate capital to continue operations, as it relied heavily on the mortgage securities market to raise funds.

The bank is scheduled to reopen tomorrow as IndyMac Federal Bank, FSB, under the oversight of the FDIC.

The FDIC estimates its takeover of IndyMac will cost between $4 billion and $8 billion.

The FDIC set up a help page and hotline for IndyMac customers with questions regarding their deposits.


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