The subprime lending crash is affecting more than the U.S. economy. Banks from around the world, which have been investing in American loans, have been admitting that their investments are deteriorating due to the subprime lending crash. The International Herald Tribune reports on the effects of the subprime crash:

The developments are the latest indications that the housing slump will affect a broader segment of the mortgage industry and that the problems will last longer than many officials had suggested earlier this year. Just last week, the nation’s biggest home lender, Countrywide Financial, acknowledged that defaults on second mortgages to prime borrowers were rising quickly.

Some of the main U.S. mortgage companies to be hit by woes associated with the subprime lending crash include Countrywide Financial last week and American Home Mortgage yesterday.