Lewis Ranieri
| Lewis Ranieri | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1947 (age 69–70) Brooklyn, New York City |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation |
Bond trader Banker |
| Employer | Ranieri Partners, Salomon Brothers |
| Known for |
Securitization Mortgage-backed securities |
Lewis S. Ranieri (born 1947) is a former bond trader, founding partner and current chairman of Ranieri Partners, a real estate firm. He is considered the "father" of mortgage-backed securities, for his pioneering role in their emergence in the 1970s, during his tenure in Salomon Brothers, where he reached the position of Vice Chairman. Although he was named by BusinessWeek in 2004 as "one of the greatest innovators of the past 75 years", he was later strongly criticized for his role in the subprime mortgage crisis of 2007–09.
Lewis S. Ranieri was born in Brooklyn, NY in 1947. Ranieri had sought to be an Italian chef before finding that his asthma prevented him from working in smoky kitchens. He began college at St. John's University but left before completing his degree. Ranieri later returned to school and completed his Bachelor of Arts in English in 1986. In 1987, St. John’s University awarded him an honorary Doctor of Laws degree.
In 1968, Ranieri took a part-time job in the mail room of Salomon Brothers. He worked his way from the mail room to the position of Vice Chairman of Salomon Brothers, the full story of which is captured in Michael Lewis's bestseller Liar's Poker. In the late 1970s, Ranieri joined the new mortgage-trading desk of Salomon Brothers where he contributed to creating the innovative practice of securitization, a word he is said to have coined.BusinessWeek said that in 1977, with the creation of mortgage-backed securities (MBS), "Ranieri's job was to sell those bonds—at a time when only 15 states recognized MBS as legal investments. With a trader's nerve and a salesman's persuasiveness, he did much more, creating the market to trade MBS and winning Washington lobbying battles to remove legal and tax barriers." Ranieri also declared that "mortgages are math," hiring PhDs who developed the collateralized mortgage obligation, repackaging mortgages into more attractive bonds.
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