This is starting to get interesting, although it is far from conclusive. Massachusetts Land Court judge Keith Long reaffirmed a 2009 ruling (Ibanez) that invalidated foreclosures on two properties because the lenders did not hold clear title to them at the time of the foreclosure sale. Now this decision is still subject to appeal, and […]
Read more...An interesting contract in reporting today. Reader (Tom C) sent me the Wall Street Journal version of this story, by Michael R. Crittenden and Liam Pleven, titled “AIG Execs Returned Only $19M Of $45M In Pledged Repayments.” I decided to look at Bloomberg as well, as found one on the same subject, “AIG Should Trim […]
Read more...I have a weakness for seeing movies in theaters; the home variety, even with the super large screens, is just not the same. And it has been so long since I have seen a movie that all the trailers looked good to me (well, I must confess I like trailers. The tacky soda and car […]
Read more...An unannounced but evidently coordinated effort to arrest or at least slow the fall of the dollar is underway. The Financial Times indicated that Asian central banks were aggressive dollar buyers on Thursday, but the information came via currency traders rather than an official pronouncement. Thailand, Malaysia and Taiwan made substantial purchases; Hong Kong and […]
Read more...When markets were more agitated than they are today, one source of background worry was the Baltics. The countries went on a debt binge, borrowing heavily from Swedish banks. And while the amounts at issue are hardly earth-shaking by credit crisis standards, there is always the possibility that unexpected knock-on effects could lead to more […]
Read more...The New York Times has a good update on the progress, or more accurately, lack thereof, in the efforts to return to normalcy in the credit markets. The story highlights the fact that the securitization markets, to the extent they are operating, are heavily dependent on government intervention and it does not appear likely that […]
Read more...You have to hand it to those bankers. They are very creative in finding ways to argue that life for them should continue more or less as it did before, despite the spectacular damage that they have exacted on the global economy. Had the industry put together a reform program, or even fessed up to […]
Read more...Monoline insurers were last year’s story, but I have a prurient interest in some of the smoldering hulks of the credit crisis. Readers may recall that in January-Feb of last year, seemingly imminent demise of monolines looked to be ready to set off financial armageddon, since monoline (and AIG) credit enhancement was critical to a […]
Read more...By Swedish Lex, an expert and advisor on EU regulatory and political affairs: If you belong to those who believe that the debate on how to fix finance is mightily underwhelming when compared to the latter’s monumental failure, then I suggest reading Martin Wolf’s latest column in the Financial Times. Wolf essentially trashes the financial […]
Read more...By Satyajit Das, a risk consultant and author of Traders, Guns & Money: Knowns and Unknowns in the Dazzling World of Derivatives: One year ago, AIG was brought to the brink of bankruptcy as a result its exposure under credit default swaps (“CDS”) (a form of credit insurance). Asset backed securities and Collateralised Debt Obligations […]
Read more...Given how beleagured ratings agencies are, you would expect them to adopt the usual best policy when in trouble with authority figures: act terribly contrite and use all sorts of apologetic language without admitting to much and/or admit profusely to stuff you cannot deny, and make extremely vague but very earnest promises to do better. […]
Read more...During the tense months of the crisis, every so often there would be a story on the looming threat of mounting corporate debt defaults. With more than half the corporate bonds rated junk, thanks to highly-levered takeovers, it wasn’t hard to imagine that a protracted economic bad spell could lead to a lot of defaults. […]
Read more...By George Washington of Washington’s Blog. Inside the beltway and among mainstream economists, Larry Summers has the reputation of being a genius. But Australian PhD economist Steve Keen points out a huge gap in the thinking of Summers – and all neoclassical economists. Specifically, in an essay written today, Keen explains the weakness in the […]
Read more...Reader Scott pointed out this BankImplode story, “Exclusive – Wells Fargo’s Commercial Portfolio is a ticking time bomb.” I can’t verify it, but it sounded plausible and contained some juicy details: Wachovia, which Wells purchased last fall as it teetered on the brink of collapse, was so desperate to increase revenue in the last few […]
Read more...We’ve note during the well-warranted furor over the dreadful performance of rating agencies in assigning credit grades to structured credits, a business that was handsomely profitable to them, that it was difficult to limit their impact. Ratings are enshrined in all sorts of regulations, from the Fed’s haircuts on its discount window to its alphabet […]
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