* Countrywide risk head in 2006 warned publicly on loans
* Gave speech at Fed event attended by Bernanke
* Presented slides on home-loan delinquency risks, causes
By Steve Eder
NEW YORK, June 9 (Reuters) - The chief risk officer of Countrywide Financial Corp, the poster-child company for the loose U.S. home loans that staggered the world economy, was warning against them even when it put him at odds with his own company -- and with Fed chairman Ben Bernanke.
At a time when many in the U.S. home loan industry were offering money to almost anyone who walked in the door, John P. McMurray publicly warned about the risks of such lax lending.
McMurray pointed out the risks at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago's annual conference on bank structure and competition on May 18, 2006 -- less than a year before the housing sector and mortgage lending industry began collapsing, leading to a credit crunch that spread around the world.
Such lending practices also eventually collapsed Countrywide into a fire sale takeover and led to charges of fraud and insider trading being brought against company co-founder Angelo Mozilo.
McMurray's presentation on the home lending boom contrasted with comments Federal Reserve Chairman Bernanke had made in the event's keynote address about 90 minutes earlier.
Bernanke said home finance innovation did carry risk but provided significant net benefits.
"Borrowers have more choices and greater access to credit; lenders and investors are better able to measure and manage risk; and, because of the dispersion of financial risks to those more willing and able to bear them, the economy and the financial system are more resilient," Bernanke said, according to a transcript of his speech.
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