Summary: For most of the 5,156 assets it reviewed under nine Standard Asset Management and Disposition Agreement (SAMDA) contracts, GAO was unable to determine holding costs/revenues, holding times, or net recovery rates for disposed assets because the data were either not readily available or were unreliable. GAO discovered that (1) the Resolution Trust Corporation (RTC) had not established uniform reporting requirements for the financial data and (2) for the assets sold by RTC, final sales information was not always provided to SAMDA contractors promptly. Without this information, neither the sales proceeds nor the recovery rates could be determined. RTC has since established uniform requirements for reporting assets sales and financial data. Out of the 5,156 assets, GAO analyzed the financial data for 1,654 assets for which complete revenue and expense data were available. GAO identified those asset types with the highest holding costs, those types that remained in the inventory for the longest time, and those types that produced the highest rates. If RTC has done such an analysis, it could have used the results to make more information decisions about managing its portfolio. Taken together, these factors--net holding costs and revenues, holding times, and net recoveries--along with factors such as availability of buyers and market outlook can help managers decide whether and when it makes sense to dispose of assets and maximize net recoveries for RTC.
