West Palm Beach (HedgeCo.net) – LoanInsights, a San Francisco-based financial services and technology company, has hired James Sias as Director of Business Development. Sias will be responsible for working with banks, hedge funds and US government entities to help them leverage the newly launched LoanInsights SMART (Secured Mortgage Asset Resolution Tool).

The new SMART platform enables financial institutions, investors and the government to value and manage optimally the $1 trillion-plus in so-called “toxic assets” that are a primary cause of the nation’s severe economic downturn and continue to be a major drag on the hoped for recovery.

"James’ real-world experience will be critical to our efforts in reaching out to hedge funds, banks and other investors to demonstrate how our new tools can help them effectively and profitably manage their distressed mortgage assets,” said Jonathan Strike, President and Co-Founder of LoanInsights. “In addition, with his deep knowledge of the mortgage industry and underlying process, James clearly understands what the various players need to do now to solve the toxic assets problem and help get credit flowing again."

The LoanInsights team has been working for the past eight months with investor groups, including hedge funds and private investors, to test the SMART process and technology platform in beta mode. During this time, the investors realized an unleveraged annual return on equity in excess of 30% on those portfolios analyzed and liquidated through the platform. In addition, the homeowners who were part of the program refinanced into lower, fixed-rate mortgages, and in some cases actually reduced their overall mortgage balances.

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Reuters- U.S. asset manager BlackRock Inc gave details on Tuesday of the revised agreements it has struck with top shareholder Merrill Lynch & Co Inc that, among other things, try to protect BlackRock’s interests if Merrill’s structure changes substantially.

Merrill is BlackRock’s biggest shareholder and decided last week to retain its 49.8 percent stake in the biggest publicly traded U.S. asset manager after weighing whether to sell it in full or part to raise capital.

In a filing with the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission, BlackRock said the revised Stockholder agreement has expanded the definition of change of control at Merrill Lynch to include the disposition of two-thirds or more of Merrill’s global private client business.

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