The subprime mortgage crisis shook communities across the country. Banks and securities firms, including more than 100 of the world‘s largest, wrote down assets and posted billions in losses on investments in mortgage-backed securities.
Recovery in the mortgage market and the secondary market for subprime investment products depends on restoring the confidence of buyers, many of whom are still reeling from the global financial meltdown. Investors will return to the subprime mortgage market, but they will do it differently than in the past. They will want a much better understanding of the instruments they‘re buying than they had during the market's heyday.
Gaining that understanding will require more and better information, made available through information technology (IT) systems. This viewpoint paper discusses the role IT is likely to play in restoring investor confidence in mortgage markets.