Clifford Rossi is an executive-in-residence and Tyser Teaching Fellow at the University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business. He has held senior risk management and credit positions at Citigroup, Washington Mutual, Countrywide, Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae.

Banks Forced to Use Shortsighted Accounting
May 2, 2013 Accounting rules require banks to drain reserves when loan losses are low and build them up when problems abound, amplifying...

Fix Credit Ratings Process Ahead of GSE Reform
April 26, 2013 A system where ratings are assigned to a nationally recognized statistical ratings organization by an independent public...

FDIC Should Charge Banks for Lax Risk Management
April 19, 2013 Spending several million dollars to beef up risk management processes would be an easy decision if it saved hundreds of...

Let the FHA Charge for Risk, Like Fannie and Freddie Do
April 11, 2013 The riskiest loans get priced out of Fannie and Freddie securities and end up guaranteed by the FHA. We are merely shifting...

Basel's Treatment of GSE Securities Threatens Housing Recovery
March 27, 2013 Restricting the use of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac securities in computing the LCR may raise mortgage costs and negatively...

Banking Needs Less Regulation, More Risk Governance
March 20, 2013 Tough regulations, strict oversight and sophisticated analytics can all help, but they pale in comparison to a culture that...

The Unsung Virtues of Mortgage Credit Enhancements
March 12, 2013 Private mortgage insurance and "senior-sub" securitization structures have advantages that could accelerate private capital's...

Raising FHA's Game
February 25, 2013 Take the Federal Housing Administration out of HUD and put it under a commission. A self-funded, independent government...

Regulators Choke Off Good Loans in Zeal to Prevent Bad Ones
February 6, 2013 Regulators seem obsessed with preventing false negatives: loans that pass underwriting and then default. They should consider...

Break the Megabanks' Stranglehold on Mortgage Servicing
January 30, 2013 Future compensation structures should not only reflect the higher costs of servicing troubled loans but also open the business...