Mr Cooper Group Inc (COOP)

[DJN]

http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/content/dec2008/db20081224_250286_page_2.htm


You're talking about companies like New Century and Countrywide…but what about Washington Mutual (WAMUQ)? They are regulated by the Office of Thrift Supervision. What will change?

I think that given all the well-publicized thrift failures, there will be a strong move afoot in Congress to do away with the OTS. There are different ways to do this, if they decide to go forward. One way is to have the thrifts convert to banks. They can choose if they want to be a national or state bank. On the other hand, you could take the OTS charter and give it to someone else like the OCC, but that would perpetuate the same business model. You would still have thrifts, engaged almost exclusively in the business of mortgage lending, without the same kind of diversification that commercial banks have. I would question why you would want to do that.