(Part 2) Reddit mentions: The best banks & banking books

The mortgage business is pretty complex (due to both its size and the number of regulatory hurdles), but here's a really rough overview of the business, how mortgage servicing rights (MSRs) fit into the picture, and how NRZ operates in the industry.

1. When a borrower needs a mortgage in the US they usually go to a mortgage broker or banker who will quote a rate when the potential customer applies. That rate will typically be locked in for 45-90 days after application, so there's a fair spread built into the quote to protect the broker. There's a great Canadian podcast called I Love Mortgage Brokering (cringe) if you want to learn more about this.
   
2. Mortgages are then pooled into a special purpose legal entity that can issue shares. These shares can then be sold to investors who will participate in the cash flows from the underlying mortgage loans (hundreds of them). Maintaining the operations of this entity isn't free, so some % of the cash flow is paid out to the entities that allow it to function, those are typically insurers, servicers, trustees, etc. GSEs (FNMA, FHLMC, and GNMA) will guarantee pools of loans that meet their various requirements, effectively subsidizing homebuyers' loans at the expense of taxpayers (hooray for us renters!).
   
3. Servicers make money in the following ways:
   
4. Servicing fees - (weighted ave. coupon - pool's investor yield - GSE guarantee fee) = servicing revenue
   
5. Interest float - Servicers have custody of borrower's payments for a while before they need to remit those payments to investors in the pool they're servicing. They can invest those assets and make money during the ~15 days they have custody of a payment.
   
6. Ancillary income - Essentially fee income. (i.e., late fees, prepayment fees, insurance and other cross-sold products)
   
   The reason people say that MSRs perform well when interest rates are rising is that prepayment rates decline when interest rates rise. Servicers make more money they longer their portfolio stays active, so when refi rates are low MSRs on existing loans are worth more.
   
   New Residential Investment Corp:
   
   
7. Subsidiary of Fortress Investment Group, a large and well capitalized asset management group that Softbank just announced they are purchasing for $3.3 billion. As a very strong performer within FIG, NRZ has next to no risk of being cut and will likely have access to a great deal of new capital.
   
8. They quadrupled notional aum this year and are actively looking for more expansion opportunities. Most recently they purchased $91 billion notional of servicing rights on agency mortgages from citigroup. (There was another recent large purchase too, but I can't remember the details.) Normally that rate of growth would be cause for some concern, as it's fairly difficult to ramp up compliance programs that quickly, but NRZ shouldn't have that issue due to their access to Fortress's back office infrastructure.
   
9. They contract out servicing to companies called sub-servicers that handle the payment processing, record keeping, and call center stuff for them for a flat fee. This means that they are essentially taking a spread that pays out over time, with longer repayment outcomes favoring the MSR holder.
   
10. Basel 3 is in the process of forcing banks out of the servicing industry due the new risk weighting given to the asset. summary slide deck This basically means a reduction in competition and a big opportunity for expanding market share, which they have clearly done aggresively thus far and, given the above, are incredibly well positioned to continue doing.
    
    Now, all that said, the servicing industry is, overall, a complete and utter shit show. While NRZ is definitely the best from a capital adequacy and large-scale strategic perspective, the servicing business is still run as it was in the 90's, and it was poor by anyone's standards even then. Operations are a mess, and compliance failures abound. Very few organizations care very much about their servicing departments, just read a few pages about Ocwen's trouble with the CFPB, NYDFS, and California's state regulators and you'll see what I mean. Hopefully NRZ has done a good job selecting their sub servicers, but even if they've done an average job they should come out on top given their other advantages.
    
    Grain of salt: I've read a fair number of books on the subject as a hobby, but I've never worked in the field. This book in particular has a solid chapter on servicing.
    
    Aside: bitcoin's a better purchase than all this fiat shit.

I picked up The Science of Algorithmic Trading a few months ago. It was just released, and from what I've read so far (the first few chapters), it's very knowledgable and a good primer. Some of it gets much more in depth into portfolio management, and TCA -- but it also gives a good overview of market micro-structure. If anyone were thinking about getting into algorithmic trading, this would be a great primer.

Seriously this!

Start focusing on your computer science degree. Get a job at a FinTech company. And learn on the job. A lot of what we’re doing is so new that there aren’t single resources to learn.

Given that here are some books:

• https://www.amazon.com/Payments-Systems-U-S-Third-Professional-ebook/dp/B074PB7T1K/ref=nodl_ - this is the book I give to all new hires to my team. It gives a solid foundation of how money moves in the US. Without understanding how it currently works, it will be hard to innovate.
  

• https://www.amazon.com/Bank-4-0-Banking-everywhere-never/dp/9814771767/ref=nodl_ - Brett King is foremost leader in banking of the future. He is founder of Moven.
  
  Also there’s a bunch of good podcasts. Breaking Bank is a good one to start with.
  
  The thing is FinTech is a big field. Figure out whether you want to be in Payment, Lending, Banking, or whatever else.
  
  Feel free to Ask me questions or DM me. I’ve spent my entire career in FinTech

Here are all the local Amazon links I could find:


amazon.com

amazon.co.uk

amazon.ca

amazon.com.mx

amazon.de

amazon.it

amazon.es

amazon.co.jp

amazon.fr

Beep bloop. I'm a bot to convert Amazon ebook links to local Amazon sites.
I currently look here: amazon.com, amazon.co.uk, amazon.ca, amazon.com.au, amazon.in, amazon.com.mx, amazon.de, amazon.it, amazon.es, amazon.com.br, amazon.nl, amazon.co.jp, amazon.fr, if you would like your local version of Amazon adding please contact my creator.

Well first and foremost, the "Axis" that you referred to is not a monolithic entity, but rather, an alliance of world powers with their own vested interests, their own reasons for war, and their own justifications for military expansionism. So judging from how your question is framed, by "Axis" you seem to be referring specifically to Germany, but I will attempt to unpack your answer in as nuanced and comprehensive way as possible.

Many in the Japanese military saw the expansion of their empire as a means of becoming a modern state in the eyes of the world, on par with great European powers at the time. Furthermore, Japanese framed the rhetoric of this expansion within a dialogue of "Pan-Asianism", and the protection of Asian interests from white imperial powers in the West (namely Britain and the United States). Many Asian countries, be it the Philippines, China, Thailand, etc. had a long history of both military and economic subjugation at the hands of European and American imperialism. In this regard, the Japanese fighting allied troops in the pacific did not see themselves as agents of genocide, but rather, as protectors of a sort of paternalistic guidance of Asian independence and progression, with conveniently, Japan as the father figure protecting their fellow Asian "wards" within that paternalistic setting.

In regards to Germany, I think it is instructive for us to use an approach similar to Mary Renda's in her account of the U.S occupation of Haiti by asking the question: How does one imagine themselves when they pull the trigger of a gun? Again, engaging directly to your question, is it likely that the common German soldier saw himself as a vessel of genocide? Or, is it more likely that the background of the soldier in a prewar context (their class, their regional identity, their experiences with Jews before the war, the relationship to economic depression and recovery, etc.) shaped their attitudes and motivations going into the war? Some surely did see themselves as actors in the genetic purification of the German race, however, I would postulate that these were the minority of soldiers. Some saw themselves as restoring the glory of the German empire. However, as [Stephen Fritz] (http://www.amazon.com/Frontsoldaten-German-Soldier-World-War/dp/0813109434/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1413870497&sr=1-4&keywords=german+soldiers+of+world+war+two) suggests, many others saw themselves upholding the less sinister values of National Socialism against the forces of communism and capitalism. National Socialism was more than just the idea of ethnic purity. We have to remember the context of post WWI German society; its political unrest of the Weimar Republic and its economic hardships. The soldiers of Germany experienced this context, it memory was palpable and vivid, and thus, many saw the country's renewed glory as intrinsically connected to the class, economic and political ideologies of National Socialism.

I do not have a comprehensive background in Italian history or Italian fascism, so I won't attempt to postulate on the motivations of soldiers in that context. However, I would just like to end by cautioning you of the approach that leads to questions like this. What you are doing is taking a presentist mindset, the knowledge and context of the present and imposing it on your inquiry of the past. In so doing, you devoid the subjects of your presentist thinking of their historical contexts, and in turn, pass judgment onto these historical actors and ascribe motivations that were either nominal or secondary to their lives and beliefs. This is not an attack on you, or, an attempt to scold you in an academic sense. Rather, it is simply an attempt to illuminate some the fallacies that everyone (including professional historians) bring with them that shape their historical scholarship. In the future, try to refine your inquires by identifying possibly presentist ideas and analysis. Again, I don't want this to seem like an attack, I am glad you are attempting to think about the motivations of the other in a historical context.

I hope this answer shed some light on your question and the historical contexts the shaped the more forgotten actors of the Second World War.

Further Reading:

[Japan at War] (http://www.amazon.com/Japan-War-An-Oral-History/dp/1565840399/ref=pd_sim_b_1?ie=UTF8&refRID=1XVS7YD9VBYY91RB6N5B)

[The Programme of NSDAP] (http://www.amazon.com/Programme-Nsdap-Gottfried-Feder/dp/1908476885/ref=sr_1_11?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1413871347&sr=1-11&keywords=national+socialism)

[Japan's Total Empire] (http://www.amazon.com/Japans-Total-Empire-Manchuria-Imperialism/dp/0520219341/ref=sr_1_8?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1413871476&sr=1-8&keywords=japanese+imperialism)

EDIT: Spelling and formatting and junk.

Humanity is at a threshold point, the concept of property rights as we know it will be tested.

Those that are presently extremely wealthy know it is just a matter of time before the mass of the people start to realize that the distribution of wealth is an artificial superstructure that is only possible due to the ignorance of how credit functions by the mass of people.

Here is a book that begins to explain how money and credit works:

https://www.amazon.com/Real-Money-versus-False-Credits/dp/1410104729

If they simply "stopped paying attention", how would you explain the CIA's orders to the Jeddah consulate to grant Al Qaeda operatives visas into the country?

How do you explain the fact that once in the country, the alleged hijackers received training at secure military installations.

It is you, sir, who needs to read some books:

Killing Hope: US Military and CIA Interventions Since World War II

Confessions of an Economic Hitman

Tragedy and Hope

Wall Street and The Bolshevik Revolution

Wall Street and The Rise of Hitler

Foundations: Their Power and Influence

Bank Control of Large Corporations in the United States

Wake up to reality my friend. These people are not, and have never been, incompetent or negligent. If they were either, they wouldn't be in the positions of power they are in today.

Fine, apologies for my snark and sometimes rudeness. I stand by the point that on the one hand, lay people shouldn't even try to form opinions on what they don't know. This leads to people who read the news and support anti-vaccines, or people who read the news and then support Brexit, only to protest it later, or people who read the news and pressure lawmakers into avoiding TARP bailouts, only to change their tune literally days later after seeing the consequence (this is a reference to TARP legislation actually failing originally in the House on Sep 29 2008, and was literally passed two days later once the public and lawmakers saw the consequences of what they did, this is my favorite example of people changing their tune once they realize they don't know what they're doing). Then there's people who read the news and self diagnose before going into the doctor's office ... every doctor hates that.

But on the other hand, everyone is free to choose their hobbies and casual interests, and some baseline level of knowledge is fair to strive for, so maybe I should get off my high horse and stop dissuading you from that. If you treat the news more skeptically as a source of "info" in the future I'll call it a win.

One casual source I like that covers the crisis is here, this is written by the President of the NY Fed at the time, who later became US Secretary of Treasury.

If you want a little more technical source to read I'd recommend this, written by an economist who is well known for studying the crisis.

Aside from the crisis if you want economic news in general, for god's sake avoid media outlets. Here is a good source of ongoing commentary from the Fed that will cover both technical and layperson material, you can filter as you like.

I'll let you have the last word, sorry again if I was rude.

Don't know if it's exactly what you wanted but check out these non-fiction books:

The Singularity Is Near (Ray Kurzweil)

Augmented: Life In The Smart Lane

Surviving AI: The Promise And Peril Of Artificial Intelligence

Edit: Bicentennial Man (was already mentioned) is one of my all-time favorite films

not sure if its that what you are looking for, but a teacher in university did recommend this book last semester. I looked already a bit in and it seems to be interesting. Its about central banking in western countries from Middle Ages til now. : https://www.amazon.com/Evolution-Central-Banking-Palgrave-Economic/dp/1137485248

Thanks for your advice! As for know I'm going to look at Princeton textbook.

I came across this book. It claims to go deep into how the Blockchain works. What do you think about it? Is it any good?

My favorite forex "conspiracy theory" is about SNB playing with the market when they firstly put the floor in and then 4 years later when they removed it, just days after they reiterate it will hold. here is supporting evidence in form of a book Forex Case Studies I recently read :)

Optimization Over Time: Dynamic Programming and Stochastic Control (Vol. I & II) Wiley Series in Probability and Statistics - Applied Probability and Statistics Section

https://www.abebooks.co.uk/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=22651494592&searchurl=tn%3DOptimization%2BOver%2BTime%252C%2BDynamic%2BProgramming%2Band%2BStochastic%2BControl%2B%2528Wiley%2BSeries%2Bin%2BProbability%2Band%2BStatistics%2B-%2BApplied%2BProbability%2Band%2BStatistics%2BSection%2529%26sortby%3D17%26an%3Dpeter%2Bwhittle&cm_sp=snippet-_-srp1-_-image3

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1886529442/ref=ox_sc_act_title_5?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&psc=1

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0521295149/ref=ox_sc_act_title_10?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&psc=1

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0471101206/ref=ox_sc_sfl_title_2?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ANKJ1HIJYFVVM

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0471104965/ref=ox_sc_sfl_title_3?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A327JZFAPRTZ0D

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1886529434

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0133796779

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1618532332

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1259717771
needed

I have a few questions:

(1) Did you go to a top school? If not you can all but forget about getting into a top bank in the most lucrative position of doing deals. Unless you happen to have an in.

(2) Why do you need to be in a top bank?

(3) What are you looking to learn for banking...meaning deals or just the banking industry in general?

For general banking industry start reading through 10Q/Ks. You will quickly pick up on what drives banks and how they view/drive profitability.

If it is the former then hit up the following:
www.macaubus.com
http://www.wallstreetoasis.com
http://pages.stern.nyu.edu/~adamodar/
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00CLPF85E/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?ie=UTF8&btkr=1

I love this video, such a great visual breakdown.
I highly recommend to anyone intrigued by this to read The Creature From Jekyll Island by G. Edward Griffin. It’s long, but it will blow your mind

Don't know if it was the teacher or the book, but my Money and Banking class with this was fantastic. However, that would come the semester after intro to macro-econ.

>How much of the increase in overall pricing is due to the sharp jump in oil and housing?

Likely not much since fuel and housing are not regularly included in the CPI measure. If they were the fed could not maintain their 2-4% inflation illusion.


>Sources, Please

http://www.forbes.com/sites/nathanlewis/2013/01/03/the-1870-1914-gold-standard-the-most-perfect-one-ever-created/

http://www.amazon.com/Money-Gold-History-Lewis-Lehrman-ebook/dp/B00DQG5QL8/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1410015930&sr=1-2&keywords=lehrman

http://www.amazon.com/Money-Destruction-Dollar-Threatens-Economy-ebook/dp/B00JFG7080/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1410016056&sr=1-1&keywords=money

http://www.amazon.com/Creature-Jekyll-Island-Edward-Griffin-ebook/dp/B00ARFNQ54/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1410016087&sr=1-1&keywords=creature+from+jekyll+island

I'm pretty sure it was Sundie Seefried.

• Her banking workshop in November (penultimate item on the page)
  
  
• Her book
  

Here are a few to get started with:

Breaking Banks: The Innovators, Rogues, and Strategists Rebooting Banking -- Brett King

‘Smarter Bank: Why Money Management is More Important Than Money Movement to Banks and Credit Union’ – Ron Shevlin

Blockchain Revolution: How the Technology Behind Bitcoin Is Changing Money, Business, and the World -- Don and Alex Tapscott

Pages 162-165 in this book give a fun explanation. You can use the "look inside" feature on Amazon.

http://www.amazon.com/Bitcoin-Befuddled-Conrad-Barski/dp/1593275730

>The former leaders of the Fed emphasized that the Fed’s powers are appropriately checked by Congress.

Lol, pretty sure "Audit the Fed" never passed....

https://www.paul.senate.gov/news/dr-rand-paul-introduce-%E2%80%98audit-fed%E2%80%99-amendment-senate-banking-bill

>The legislation would amend section 714b of Title 31 of the U.S. Code to allow the GAO to fully audit:

>>transactions for or with a foreign central bank, government of a foreign country, or nonprivate international financing organization;

>>deliberations, decisions, or actions on monetary policy matters, including discount window operations, reserves of member banks, securities credit, interest on deposits, and open market operations;

>>transactions made under the direction of the Federal Open Market Committee; or a part of a discussion or communication among or between members of the Board and officers and employees of the Federal Reserve System related to clauses (1)–(3) of this subsection.

--------------------------

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Reserve_Transparency_Act

>All three previous attempts passed in United States House of Representatives but died in the US Senate.

-------------------------

Background:

>A secret gathering at a secluded island off the coast of Georgia in 1910 laid the foundations for the Federal Reserve System.

https://www.federalreservehistory.org/essays/jekyll_island_conference


------------------

More information on the founding of the Fed - https://www.amazon.com/Creature-Jekyll-Island-Federal-Reserve-ebook/dp/B00ARFNQ54

I've really been digging this book: Bitcoin for the Befuddled https://www.amazon.com/dp/1593275730/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_BDFszb45S44VY

Don't let the dumbass cover fool you: it's packed with great info.

https://youtu.be/mII9NZ8MMVM

https://www.amazon.com/Creature-Jekyll-Island-Federal-Reserve-ebook/dp/B00ARFNQ54

Also, look up the prominent banking families from Frankfurt Germany (Rothschild, Warburg, Schiff) and their ties to Jacob Frank and Adam Weishaupt.

This is known among many within this sub. Take it easy on the explosive headlines...

***

While on the topic - which is an important one, here's some literature and media:

• Anthony C. Sutton - The Federal Reserve Conspiracy (digitized book)
  
  
• Eustace Mullins - Secrets of the Federal Reserve (digitized book)
  
  
• G. Edward Griffin (amazon) (lectures) (homepage)

First this book, then this one, and finally this book. Then your training will be complete.

They used this Mishkin text in my Money & Banking class.

Mishkin is standard textbook for undergraduate economics courses on Money and Banking.

The Creature from Jekyll Island... read it: https://www.amazon.com/Creature-Jekyll-Island-Federal-Reserve-ebook/dp/B00ARFNQ54

If you don't want to read the book, here's a (quite long) video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lu_VqX6J93k

>Just because Jennifer SEEEMED to not know about it, does not mean she does not.

I bet that the average person is not interested in the Cabal at all!

​

Out of curiosity, what do you think? Is the FED private or governmental?

The Creature from Jekyll Island: A Second Look at the Federal Reserve

https://www.amazon.com/Creature-Jekyll-Island-Federal-Reserve-ebook/dp/B00ARFNQ54

• Andrew Breitbart "Righteous Indignation: Excuse Me While I Save the World"
  
  ---
  
  
• David Horowitz "Take No Prisoners: The Battle Plan for Defeating the Left"
  
  ---
  
  
• G Edward Griffin "The Creature from Jekyll Island: A Second Look at the Federal Reserve"
  
  ---
  
  
• Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn "The Gulag Archipelago 1918-1956" ^(This book is the firsthand account of the horrors of socialism and communism. TLDR; democide is the greatest murderer of the 20th century, do not repeat)