The news was first reported in Rob Chrisman's daily newsletter and confirmed by his son Mark. Mozilo was 84.
Mozilo co-founded what would become Countrywide Financial Corp. in 1969 with David Loeb, eventually turning the nonbank into the industry's largest originator and servicer. Later, the pair would found what became known as IndyMac, which met its own fate in 2008 after becoming a bank. At that time, Mozilo was no longer involved in its affairs.
Mozilo was known in the industry for both his perpetual tan as well as his sense of style. Starting in October 1991 and over the following 12 months, Mozilo was the face of the business as president (a position that has since been renamed chairman) of the Mortgage Bankers Association.
Under Mozilo's stewardship, Countrywide emphasized working with low- and moderate- income communities. In 1999, Mozilo increased Countrywide's five-year commitment, the We House America campaign to serve these borrowers, to $80 billion.
A 2003 article noted that Countrywide grew the commitment to $100 billion and achieved it three years early. It then increased the goal to $600 billion, to achieve by 2010.
Countrywide would not survive to that target date.
At the start of 2008, weighed down by poorly originated loans, which some said were reportedly done at the direction of Mozilo, Bank of America agreed to buy what it already didn't own of Countrywide for $4 billion. By then, Countrywide had moved from being an independent mortgage banker to owning a thrift.
Mozilo never faced criminal charges for what happened at Countrywide but did agree, without admitting or denying liability, to a settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission for $67.5 million.
What particularly aroused ire in some quarters was the so-called "Friends of Angelo" program. Reportedly some 18,000 of these loans were made over a 12-year period that included a 50-basis-point price break along with fee waivers.
Mozilo spent the succeeding years pushing back on the perception he and Countrywide, along with subprime lending, bore responsibility for the Financial Crisis.
Former Silicon Valley Bank exec Floyd Kessler joins Comerica as executive vice president and chief business control officer; Melissa Holding succeeds Michael Robinson as head of wealth management at Huntington; Goldman Sachs' Alexander Mayer is set to take on a senior position at JPMorgan Chase; and more in this week's banking news roundup.
In this week's edition of the American Banker news quiz, test your knowledge on Colorado banking legislation, the failure of Republic First Bancorp, acquisitions and more.
Banks maintain lists of consulting firms that they trust to help troubled commercial borrowers to fix their businesses. These specialists say they're getting more calls, especially in areas such as multifamily and CRE, from business owners who need help.
Nearly 15 years ago, Les Lieberman and other organizers of Porticoes Capital used a shelf charter to buy a spate of failed banks. Now they're hoping to replay the strategy.
The embedded banking services Amazon offers to third-party sellers come from the hidden hand of JPMorgan Chase's corporate payments arm, which markets its services to e-commerce platforms on a white-label basis.