Glass Lewis to Assist Institutional Investors Recover Their Losses on Residential Mortgage-Backed Securities

SAN FRANCISCO, July 13, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Glass, Lewis & Co., a leading independent governance services firm, today announced the launch of a new service designed to help institutional investors and plan sponsors recover their losses on private-label residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS). Pension funds and institutional investors are believed to have lost more than $750 billion over the past five years, exceeding the combined losses of investors in the scandals involving WorldCom, Enron, Tyco and Adelphia.

"Many of our 950 institutional investor clients are participants in the United States RMBS market," said Katherine Rabin, Chief Executive Officer of Glass Lewis. "Our new service will assist them and other investors in getting redress for the losses they incurred when originators, servicers and trustees did not fulfill their contractual and fiduciary obligations."

From 2005-2007, large financial institutions and banks organized a record number of private-label RMBS trusts as vehicles to reduce exposure to mortgage loans the financial institutions and banks originated. Stakes in these securitization vehicles were then sold to institutional investors. Many of these securitization vehicles, it is now believed, purchased mortgage loans that were inaccurately described to the trusts and, in turn, to investors. Since 2007, mortgage loans owned by such securitization trusts have performed extremely poorly, resulting in significant losses for investors in RMBS. Institutions seeking recoveries for these losses have been stymied by the complex governance structures of the trusts, trustee and servicer conflicts of interest and difficulties in organizing with their fellow investors.

Glass Lewis' proprietary research and recovery-facilitation service confronts these complex challenges by helping institutional investors assess their RMBS investments, identifying securitizations in which there is a high probability that loan origination misconduct has led to investor losses, and enabling investors with overlapping holdings to collectively seek recoveries. The service will benefit any institution with current or past exposure to RMBS investments.

"We have systems that process thousands of ownership files and millions of transactions a year on behalf of institutional investors," said John Wieck, Glass Lewis' Chief Operating Officer.  "Given the significant losses investors have incurred in RMBS, we believe this new service is a great use of that sophisticated technology, especially when coupled with our proven ability to analyze complex governance structures and transactions."

Glass Lewis will hold a conference call to discuss the service on Tuesday, July 26, 2011 at 11 AM Pacific. Interested parties should call 1-888-437-3179 (from within the US), or 1-201-604-5178 (outside the US)

About Glass, Lewis & Co., LLC

Glass, Lewis & Co., LLC is a leading independent governance services and investment research firm, serving institutional investors worldwide that collectively manage more than $15 trillion in assets. Glass Lewis supports the creation and preservation of long-term shareholder value through high-quality, objective analysis of governance, finance, accounting, legal, political and regulatory risks at tens of thousands of public companies across the globe; leading-edge vote management technology; and diligent client service. Founded in 2003, Glass Lewis is headquartered in San Francisco with offices in New York, Washington, D.C. and Australia.

www.glasslewis.com

SOURCE Glass, Lewis & Co., LLC