Axos Financial, Inc. (NYSE:AX) shares are trading lower after Short seller Hindenburg Research issued a short report on the stock.
Hindenburg alleged that a former Axos credit review officer detailed the practice of loan “evergreening,” or providing loans to non-performing or doubtful borrowers to avoid recognizing problems, per litigation records.
Similar schemes, also known as “extend and pretend,” were described by former employees during our investigation.
“A former regional leader told us Axos’ customer base in commercial and multifamily revolved around ‘borrowers who couldn’t get loans from other banks’.”
The firm says that based on their examination of a cross-section of Axos’ loan portfolio, these underwriting standards have led to the accumulation of problematic loans.
As of March 31, 2024, Axos reported provisions for credit ...