Bowing to pressure from big shareholders, Countrywide Financial (CFC) has invited outsiders to assess the mess inside. In a November letter to one major investor, the embattled mortgage giant revealed that its board has hired Promontory Financial Group, a consultancy filled with former regulators, to review the company's corporate governance policies.
As the nation's biggest mortgage company, Countrywide has gotten bludgeoned by falling home sales, bone-dry capital markets, and rising default rates on its existing loans. In October the Securities & Exchange Commission started investigating big stock sales by insiders, notably Chief Executive and co-founder Angelo Mozilo. On Nov. 26, Senator Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) called on federal regulators to look into $51 billion in advances made by the Federal Home Loan Bank Board of Atlanta to Countrywide.
