Capital and Prime Mortgages

At this morning's panel, I commented that I had been mistaken in thinking that 2.5 percent was a sufficient capital cushion for prime mortgages. One of the panelists, Don Ankeny, wisely noted that Fannie-Freddie's troubles did not arise from prime mortgages, but from Alt-A loans. So for true prime mortgages, 2.5 percent may indeed be enough.