Plugging the data gaps

Credit reporting agencies and technology providers are racing to develop better predictive systems for defaults and delinquencies on mortgage loans. New products that incorporate risks such as regional differences in house price growth will accompany closer tracking of areas such as piggyback loans. By Han-Nee Tay

Financial markets around the world are feeling the after-effects of the US subprime troubles. While the root causes are still being argued over, it is clear that existing mortgage risk management tools were not applied as rigorously as necessary to detect high-risk borrowers - and that macro-economic inputs should have been applied to these software packages and platforms to better predict outcomes.

With this in mind, credit reporting firms and technology providers are looking at how they can