The mortgage industry melted down August 2007, then whole financial world melted down September 2008. The Subprime Primer, a hilarious powerpoint chronicle of the crisis, made the rounds back then. I just stumbled across it, and I’ll repeat what I said at the time: Of all the deep analysis of the subprime crisis, this is
Credit Default Swaps
The mortgage industry melted down August 2007, then whole financial world melted down September 2008. The Subprime Primer, a hilarious powerpoint chronicle of the crisis, made the rounds back then. I just stumbled across it, and I’ll repeat what I said at the time: Of all the deep analysis of the subprime crisis, this is
When I was writing my 2011 rate outlook last month, I asked some former colleagues—CFA types much smarter than me—for their views on what a possible municipal bond implosion might mean for mortgage backed securities (MBS). I asked because consumer mortgage rates are tied to MBS, and I was testing a theory on whether MBS
When I was writing my 2011 rate outlook last month, I asked some former colleagues—CFA types much smarter than me—for their views on what a possible municipal bond implosion might mean for mortgage backed securities (MBS). I asked because consumer mortgage rates are tied to MBS, and I was testing a theory on whether MBS
In all of the post-bubble analysis of what went wrong lots of blame is placed on credit default swaps (CDS), which are fairly new, having not existed before 1994. Inauspiciously enough, CDS stemmed from a disaster. On March 24, 1989 the Exxon Valdez, an oil tanker headed to Long Beach, CA hit a reef in
Fed’s Conflicting Recovery Agenda The Federal Reserve Bank of New York has joined forces with BlackRock, PIMCO and other major bond investors in trying to force Bank of America to repurchase $47b of mortgages that were packaged into securities. Bank of America defended its position. “We’re not responsible for the poor performance of loans as
Fed’s Conflicting Recovery Agenda The Federal Reserve Bank of New York has joined forces with BlackRock, PIMCO and other major bond investors in trying to force Bank of America to repurchase $47b of mortgages that were packaged into securities. Bank of America defended its position. “We’re not responsible for the poor performance of loans as
Citi Revenue $25b in Quarter Citgroup announced earnings this morning with earnings per share of 15 cents versus a $0 expected. Revenue was $25 billion versus $21 billion anticipated. Like BofA’s, and Chase’s, these are solid results, but unfortunately overshadowed. FDIC’s Bank Failure Update The FDIC closed down several more banks on Friday. Tamalpais Bank
Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner is testifying before congress this morning about the AIG bailout in Fall 2008. At issue is whether AIG counterparties should have been paid in full for AIG’s obligations to them using government aid. As the testimony points out, Treasury and the Fed were mostly concerned about broad economic meltdown and had
Fortune reports that big bank deposits have outpaced loans in the year ended June 30, 2009. These two graphs from the story show loan/deposit stats among top banks and market share of deposits for big vs. rest of banks—also below are key stats from the story. This isn’t to say it’s all Evil Banker Greed,
More on coming clearinghouse for credit default swaps from Bloomberg.
Latest news from Bloomberg on bringing more transparency to the credit default swaps market: Wall Street banks including JPMorgan Chase & Co., Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and UBS AG will for the first time offer hedge-fund customers protection by backing credit-default swap trades with clearinghouses by Dec. 15. The dealers also committed to report all
From the Financial Times: More than 1,400 banks and asset managers will adopt a new “big bang” protocol, which will make it easier for investors to know what will happen to credit derivatives contracts if debt defaults occur. The US market will also introduce a standardised pricing system for CDS contracts, which have hitherto been
You have to be suspect when financial decision makers start talking about reinventing the game of finance like Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner did today. The first time in recent history was in 1994 when Salomon Brothers bond genius John Meriwether founded hedge fund Long Term Capital Management with a group of ‘financial engineers’ who were
We’ve already discussed why the last big wave of hysteria about AIG and resulting 90% bonus tax is deadly for big banks, now here’s the next hysteria wave says The Economist: Shocking though the bonuses have been, they pale in comparison with the $49.5 billion of payments that AIG has made to counterparties in its
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