Fed: Banks Tightening Up on B&C, 'Exotics'

A significant number of federally insured depositories are tightening up their subprime and "nontraditional mortgage" guidelines, according to the Federal Reserve's just-released April survey of senior loan officers.Of 16 depositories engaged in subprime lending, more than half indicated that they had tightened standards on such loans. (The Fed survey does not name the institutions.) The survey also found that of 44 banks engaged in nontraditional mortgage lending, 45% "noted a tightening of standards on such loans." However, the regulator said conventional lending standards at banks it surveyed over the past three months had remained "basically unchanged."