Asset Management: Resolution Trust Corporation Needs to Build a Strong Foundation to Support Its Asset Disposition Efforts

GAO discussed the Resolution Trust Corporation's (RTC) progress in disposing of assets. GAO found that: (1) RTC was not ready to aggressively dispose of its assets, but has reported liquidations of about $40 billion through sales, loan collections, and debt retirements; (2) RTC established a training task force to assess its overall training needs and identified areas in need of strengthening; (3) RTC was still developing some important implementing procedures in the assets disposition area related to contractor incentive strategies, contractor performance standards, and alternative methods for estimating market values; (4) RTC has been using the strategic plan's flexibility to identify and test several marketing strategies; (5) RTC has retained the services of an investment banking specialist and dealers in asset-backed securities and mortgages to help create an asset securitization program; (6) RTC planned to auction real estate; (7) RTC sought to retain a firm's services to help develop a national marketing strategy; and (8) in the future, RTC needs to focus on environmental issues, monitoring contracts, and keeping the strategic plan up-to-date.