While Maria Bruno Britz takes a much needed vacation in Hawaii this week — no, I'm not at all jealous — I’m taking over her newsletter duties.

The predominant banking news this week has focused on the effects of the mortgage crisis. Yesterday I wrote a blog about a new bill that Congress has proposed to institute reforms in the subprime mortgage industry.

But, every day, more and more news comes out. Here’s just a sampling of headlines that have already appeared this week:

° Vultures Eying Mortgage Corpse.

° Mortgage Industry Facing More Troubles.

° O'Neal Out As Merrill Reels From Loss.

° Mortgage Crisis Creates Heartbreak, Opportunities.

° Tackling the Mortgage Crisis.

Like BS&T said in our October issue, this mess is not the fault of IT.

But that doesn't mean that it's not IT's responsibility to help get financial institutions out of this mess. or help them avoid it in the future. Those technology companies that seize the opportunity and jump on the hysteria created by the current situation will benefit. Solutions that focus on data and analytics to gain more transparency about mortgage and credit risk should gain popularity as financial institutions look for ways to safeguard themselves against future losses, say many experts. I would love to see more vendors jumping on this opportunity to promote their products.

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