Gretchen Morgenson of the New York Times has a story on proposed new reporting rules for credit default swaps that in passing raises the question that if implemented on the envisioned schedule (becomes effective in fiscal year financial statements after November 15, 2008, so the impact could be soon in coming), it may lead banks […]
Read more...Credit card companies, once having had Washington in the palm of its hand, is now facing a backlash as “gotcha” fees combined with a lot of Americans paying credit card rates that a generation ago would have landed the lender in jail (no joke, on an NPR show that I participated in, a caller said […]
Read more...Readers have taken to throwing brickbats when I post material that suggests that raising interest rates (at least in advanced economies) might not be a good move right now. We’ve said before that the reason the Fed kept rates too low too long was it looked at inflation as strictly a domestic phenomenon and ignored […]
Read more...A workmanlike piece in the Financial Times, “A re-emerging market?” by Gillian Tett, Aline Van Duyn and Paul Davies gives a cautiously optimistic outlook for the revival of the securitization market. However, it’s a bit disappointing that the article skips over a couple of key elements. The first is that the explosive growth of securitization […]
Read more...The newly-released annual report of the Bank of International Settlements sounds as if it is unusually lively reading. Most official documents strive for an anodyne tone, while this one appears to be unusually blunt. However, while some reporters have their hands on it, the report is not yet up on the BIS website, so those […]
Read more...Why has taken it taken so long for Congress to try to rein in a Treasury, Fed, and now SEC that has roughshod over their prerogatives? And even odder, why do they send a shot across their bow now that the Fed and SEC are starting to work together on securities reform ideas (or more […]
Read more...Der Spiegel, in “The Shrinking Influence of the US Federal Reserve,” (hat tip reader Saboor) discusses how the US is submitting to a detailed, comprehensive investigation of it financial system under the Financial Sector Assessment Program. While Der Spiegel claims that this program is a humiliation to the US, the real significance may be that […]
Read more...When Pilate saw that he could prevail nothing, but that rather a tumult was made, he took water, and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, I am innocent of the blood of this just person: see ye to it. Matthew 27:24 It no doubt sounds extreme to compare the SEC’s proposed changes in regulation […]
Read more...As reader Tom pointed out in comments today, perhaps the most important story in today’s Wall Street Journal didn’t get front page treatment. Banks are finding it hard to raise new equity. We’re not surprised at this outcome, in fact, we’re taken aback that this outcome was not foreseen. But despite the downturn in the […]
Read more...In the anxious January/February period, when New York Insurance Superintendent Eric Dinallo made Herculean efforts to come up with $15 billion for MBIA and Ambac, it was a high-stakes drama, since it was assumed that the loss of the AAA ratings would End the World of Finance As We Know It. Now that the once-unthinkable […]
Read more...Warning: the post below is a bit geeky. Readers might start with our other current MBIA post and then return here for further details. Please also note that due to a reader catching an error I have looked further into the concept of claims paying resources and made considerable modifications to the paragraphs relating to […]
Read more...As readers probably know by now, Moody’s, the last holdout on the AAA rating for the two big monolines MBIA and Ambac, downgraded both companies earlier today, and more harshly than Standard & Poor’s. And even with this downgrade, it underscored that more cuts are likely to be in the offing Per Bloomberg: MBIA’s MBIA […]
Read more...Let’s start with some admissions: Gretchen Morgenson, one of two authors (the other is Vikas Bajaj) of a takedown piece on MBIA yesterday, has some detractors in the blogsphere because, frankly, her understanding of credit instruments leaves something to be desired. Her critics overlook her solid work on executive comp and corporate malfeasance. When she […]
Read more...I really wish the Bush administration was over, now. Here we have the Treasury secretary calling for the nation’s central bank, which already has internal tensions in its charter (preserving the soundness of the banking system, keeping inflation low and stable, and maintaining full employment) to also be in charge of financial stability: Mr. Paulson […]
Read more...This week’s Institutional Risk Analytics has an alarming title: “Is Risk Management Even Possible in an OTC Marketplace?” By all indications, the article points to a strong “no”. As much as I am a harsh critic of so-called financial innovation, the headline goes further than the case the article makes. OTC markets covers a large […]
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