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« PreviousEBITDAR: the pirate's financial metric Next »The Fed's Wall Street pay fix A bolder approach to credit-rating agency reform Posted by Barbara KiviatFriday, September 18, 2009 at 11:55 am 7 Comments • Trackback (2) • Related Topics:investingregulation Yesterday the SEC rolled out a bunch of new rules and proposals meant to purge conflict of interest and ineptitude from the credit-ratings agencies—that group of companies whose greatest hits include considering Enron investment-grade [more...]
Date: 2009-09-18 15:55:25
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Greece: Stable Outlook for the Economy
(GREEK NEWS AGENDA) Recently appointed Economy and Finance Minister Yiannis Papathanassiou on Wednesday defended the government’s economic policy, ... of social cohesion in the country. Commenting on a decision by Standard & Poor’s rating agency to downgrade Greece’s credit rating to A-/A-2 with a stable outlook from A-/A-1, the minister said: “ [more...]
Date: 2009-01-16 17:40:11
Throwing Pennies Down A Drain
Some housing bubble news from Wall Street and Washington ... s first annual report on the credit rating agencies since Congress gave it express oversight in 2006 ... . Today, the SEC released its report on credit rating agencies and their role in the subprime mess. Moody [more...]
Date: 2008-07-09 18:36:25
More Pain For Humiliated SEC After Disclosure It Ignored Moody’s Whistleblower Warnings
Zero Hedge As if the SEC could be humiliated any more, another piece of disclosure now highlights that Mary Schapiro’s useless organization was unresponsive to whistleblower overtures by former Moody’s employees attempting to warn the regulator “about Moody’s weak compliance department and ratings process.” From Reuters : A congressional panel will expand its examination of credit rating agencies to look at why U.S. [more...]
Date: 2009-09-30 18:57:17
S&P: "We'd Do a Deal Structured by Cows" And Other Rating Agency Dirty Linen
Most eyes were on the plunging equity markets today, and the rating agencies must be plenty glad for the air cover ... ): In a hearing today before the House Oversight Committee, the credit rating agencies are being ... . Case in point: this instant message exchange between two unidentified Standard & Poor's officials [more...]
Date: 2008-10-22 20:01:02
Mexico May Avoid Credit Rating Downgrade, JPMorgan Says
Mexico may stave off a credit- rating downgrade, JPMorgan Chase & Co. said. “From our conversations with the rating agencies, they appear to be giving Mexico the benefit of the doubt and will likely wait to see what components of the fiscal reform are approved by Congress,” JPMorgan analysts led by Joyce Chang wrote in a report to clients. [more...]
Date: 2009-09-29 16:44:07
Information trickle down
UPDATE: 7:45PM NZDT:ODT reporting:ANZ and National Bank have announced they are dropping their fixed-term mortgage rates ahead of the next Official ... fall in line with what the RBNZ does on 29 January.-- UPDATE ENDS RNZ reporting that the S&P credit rating downgrade has affected our dollar. I have always said that credit rating agencies will trigger [more...]
Date: 2009-01-13 22:43:00
Long Beach Mortgage Report: Concern over future loan pricing due to Democratic moves
Long Beach, CA. We are very concerned about this development for future mortgage pricing ... this is at a time when we expect a government agency to support the credit crisis, not curtail their lending. Why has this happened? Apparently the agency faces a credit rating downgrade and must work through a half [more...]
Date: 2009-01-08 18:35:49
Civil rights complaint filed over subprime credit ratings
The National Community Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC) has filed [ ... claiming that two leading credit rating agencies, Moody's Investor Services and Fitch Inc. corporate ... of subprime securities’ ratings. John Taylor, president and CEO of NCRC, said in a statement:The complaint [more...]
Date: 2008-11-30 19:29:37
S&P: Credit losses will rise into 2010
Credit ratings agency Standard & Poor’s expects nonperforming loans to continue to rise through 2009 and into 2010, ... for Biz2Credit. Biz2Credit is a small business marketplace that provides entrepreneurs ... to increase amid the widening economic downturn, Standard & Poor’s said in a new report released [more...]
Date: 2009-01-11 02:34:39
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
WASHINGTON - The Federal Reserve opened a two-day policy meeting Tuesday amid growing anxiety over inflation even with the US economy on the brink ... that could reduce the clout of Wall Street’s credit rating agencies in the multitrillion-dollar money ... in June while house prices suffered record annual drops in April, according to data Tuesday [more...]
Date: 2008-06-25 04:08:46
Arghhh
The expert on my teevee says he doesn’t understand why the market is still so up and down. Why am I so much smarter than the man on my teevee? ... Oversight Committee, the credit rating agencies are being portrayed as profit-hungry institutions that would give any deal their blessing for the right price. Case in point: this instant message exchange [more...]
Date: 2008-10-23 12:14:36
US$ Gains Despite Terrible Retail Sales Report
The US$ is relatively unchanged this morning against most major currencies ahead of this mornings Retail Sales data ... as European nations face credit warnings from international ratings agencies. The EUR is weaker this morning as more Euro Zone nations were warned that their credit rating may be reduced in 2009 [more...]
Date: 2009-01-14 14:08:02
So what really happened?
Michael Lewis and David Einhorn have written a devastating analysis in the NYT of why the banking catastrophe happened. It’s a great read. Sample: OUR financial catastrophe, like Bernard Madoff’s pyramid scheme, required all sorts ... its enlightened self-interest. The credit-rating agencies, for instance. Everyone now knows that Moody’ [more...]
Date: 2009-01-04 21:53:27
Shocked, Shocked by Financial Breakdown
"I still don't understand what happened." (flickr) A congressional hearing on federal regulators’ role in the financial crisis began with a ... in how he monitored Wall Street from 1987-2006. “A very solid edifice broke down,” Greenspan told ... -comings of the credit rating agencies. While those hearings often featured disgraced financial [more...]
Date: 2008-10-24 00:04:21
UAE banks assigned negative outlook
Financial Times: Moody’s Investors Service, the credit rating agency, has placed the United Arab Emirates banking sector on a negative outlook, ... . ... Tightening credit conditions, liquidity constraints, a collapse of regional equity markets and tumbling oil prices will also contribute to increased strains at UAE banks, Moody’s added in its report [more...]
Date: 2009-01-15 16:23:15
Thursday Links
Too Big To Fail - “Shares of Bank of America, the largest U.S. bank, were a top drag on the Dow, with a drop of more than 18 percent to $8.35 ... to a report by the U.S. Joint Forces Command on worldwide security threats.” Junk - “Another of the nation’s leading credit rating agencies has downgraded [more...]
Date: 2009-01-15 15:54:50
Chinese banks facing risks from bad loans
China’s lenders may have evaded the worst of the global credit crisis so far, but they are facing plenty of risks of their own, economists with credit agency Fitch Ratings said Friday. A larger-than-expected downturn ... ,” Chu said in a conference call following the release of a report outlining risks for the industry [more...]
Date: 2009-01-16 09:39:30
Who’s At Fault for Economic Crisis - Everyone: Tom Friedman
I would encourage everyone to read Thomas Friedman’s column in the New York Times today. Along those same lines check out PBS’ Now and their report on the credit rating agencies and their role in the financial crisis. The first three grafs: I spent Sunday afternoon brooding over [more...]
Date: 2008-11-26 14:57:32
Week Ahead: Fire Everyone and Run!
By The Greek: John McCain could be right, Christopher Cox may deserve firing. However, it seems John may be stopping far short of appropriate blame laying. Banking and housing regulators clearly need to go, and what about the credit rating agencies; they should be separated [more...]
Date: 2008-09-22 09:59:11
Banks? Credit Quality Expected to Worsen
Kerry E. Grace reports: Although government support has buoyed U.S ... s bankruptcy caused the credit markets to seize up in September. The ratings agency also expects ... . banks, the industry will likely experience overall credit quality deterioration at least through [more...]
Date: 2009-01-06 09:09:00
U.S. Telecom and Cable Credit Profiles to Weaken in 2009
Debt ratings agency, Fitch has updated a ratings report issued last month and now says that it expects that revenue growth will be negatively impacted by growing local exchange carrier access line [more...]
Date: 2009-01-11 21:21:17
Fed to Lend to Fannie & Freddie
All of our weekend guests finally clear out, we clean up the barbecue remnants. I get a few seconds to sit down to the computer to check email, and THIS is what greets me: &gt ... be at the primary credit rate and collateralized by U.S. government and federal agency securities [more...]
Date: 2008-07-14 02:16:25
Moody's Cuts WaMu Senior Debt to Junk; Bank May Sell Branches, Deposits
Washington Mutual, which has long looked wobbly, is moving beyond the point where it can survive in its current form (cynics might say in any form) ... and equity markets remains severely constrained," Craig Emrick, a Moody's senior credit officer, said ... cut its credit rating to "BBB-minus," the same level as Standard & Poor's, and those agencies [more...]
Date: 2008-09-12 12:32:17
Ex-Moody's employee warned SEC about muni issues
A former employee of Moody's Investors Service warned federal regulators in March about deficiencies in the credit rating agency's monitoring of municipal bonds after being rebuffed by Moody's executives, a document shows. [more...]
Date: 2009-09-30 03:18:49
Rating agencies protest broader oversight
* U.S. House panel eyes more liability for credit raters * Moody's says some fees could be revealed to regulators * Liability change would spur frivolous lawsuits-industry (Adds comments from hearing, context) WASHINGTON, Sept 30 (Reuters) - Moody's Corp (MCO.N) chiefexecutive told lawmakers on Wednesday that his credit ratingfirm may agree to disclose some of its fees to regulators, butopposes a plan to impose greater liability on the sector. [more...]
Date: 2009-09-30 20:16:51
Steeled for trouble
I'VE JUST gotten back from Delhi’s leafy diplomatic enclave, where CNN has a bureau ... , the credit rating agencies are now taking a less forgiving [more...]
Date: 2008-11-17 23:07:50
5 Financial Crisis ‘Aftershocks’ You Must Prepare For Today
Investors are fleeing the stock market as the rules of the game keep changing ... , credit providers, rating agencies and others all work to change the way business is conducted – [more...]
Date: 2008-11-18 15:11:39
Major Potential Risks to Credit Quality in 2009 - Fitch
Fitch Ratings’ summary of the potential rating impact of some of the more prominent credit market risks for 2009 makes for depressing, but prudent, reading. A year ago, Fitch’s 2008 Outlook presentation identified a number of possible developments for the year. These included banking system crises (though the agency was more concerned regarding [more...]
Date: 2009-01-16 19:48:30
Bond issuer upgrades look set to increase
Bond issuers poised for a credit-rating upgrade have exceeded the 12-month average for the first time in two years, according to Standard & Poor's in a report that signals improvements in the global economy.The ratings agency said 174 global iss ... [more...]
Date: 2009-09-29 17:48:20
This Week in Scandal Watch
by Alexandra Andrews and Matt Townsend - 1. Subprime Mortgages and Ratings Agencies The House passed a housing bill Wednesday that should help 400, ... and lobbying at Fannie and Freddie. 2. Detainee Treatment Salim Hamdan (Credit: Neal Katyal/Reuters ... into the case of a Canadian detainee the U.S. sent to Syria, where he claims he was tortured. [more...]
Date: 2008-07-25 19:52:01
Foreign Cenbank Agency Debt Selloff Accelerates Inexorably
"New intrigue will arrive in the late afternoon when the Fed releases its balance sheet, an exercise it does usually every Thursday at 4:30 p.m ... with a sharp widening in credit spreads between agency debt and Treasuries. The widening prompted ... spreads have tightened sharply since the announcement, helping to drive mortgage rates down [more...]
Date: 2008-11-29 07:01:50
Today’s best mortgages: How to Qualify
by Mortgage Wizard Equity The amount of equity you currently have your is a large factor when determining if you qualify for the best mortgage rates ... . (excluding utilities and other miscellaneous debts that do not get reported to the credit agencies [more...]
Date: 2009-01-04 20:51:44
Moody's worries about the chemical industry
Moody's, the global ratings agency, is today forecasting a 70% chance of a U-shaped recession, and a 15% chance of either a V or L-shaped downturn ... about the impact of the "weak credit environment" on "financially stressed companies". It points ... to recover in a weak operating market". CFOs will also be be worried when they read the report (Moody's [more...]
Date: 2009-01-15 16:08:51
The SEC And Ratings Agencies: Enabling The Market Meltdown
Michael Lewis and David Einhorn had an op-ed in the NYT on Sunday that is worth reading ... general counsel at Deutsche Bank; and one of his predecessors became a managing director for Credit [more...]
Date: 2009-01-06 14:01:18
Credit Rating Agencies Duly Scrutinized
credit rating agencies investigation subprime crisis ... and analysis. Credit rating agencies came under heavy scrutiny Wednesday on Capitol Hill for the role ... of been in hiding. Like the high school student who hadn't completed his report yet, they slid under [more...]
Date: 2008-10-23 18:13:15
Abolish Credit Rating Agencies? Some Say So
In an article I wrote back in April of 2007, I assigned blame to various individuals, industries, ... a credit score (rating) from Experian (rating agency, who is competing with other rating agencies ... , of the credit rating agencies, such as Moody’s Corp. (NYSE: MCO), Fitch’s, and Standard & Poors [more...]
Date: 2009-01-06 17:56:14
State, county score top credit ratings
The markets are down, the financial sector is a shambles, and yet even facing an economic downturn and declining revenue projections, Washington state government bonds continue to enjoy one of the highest credit ratings ... by these credit rating agencies, our high ratings are largely due to the sound financial management [more...]
Date: 2008-10-15 22:46:16
Bill Would Make Ratings Agencies Share Liability
A key House lawmaker wants to make credit rating agencies — which have been widely criticized for failing to give investors adequate warning of the risks in subprime mortgage securities that triggered the financial crisis — responsible for each other’s assessments by holding them collectively liable for inaccuracies.The Associated Press reported that a new draft bill by the lawmaker, Representative Paul Kanjorski, a Pennsylvania Democrat, includes a plan meant to address what critics contend is [more...]
Date: 2009-10-01 09:07:48
Dem Lawmaker Hits Credit Rating Firms With Collective Liability, Sparking Industry Protest
(ChattahBox)— Congressional lawmakers yesterday, focused on the much needed overhaul of the credit rating agencies, which played a major role in the collapse of the overrated subprime mortgage securities that caused the economic crisis last fall. Rep. Paul Kanjorski (D-PA) proposed a bill to address the accountability problems of the ratings agencies, by imposing collective liability for any improper ratings issued by competitor agencies. [more...]
Date: 2009-10-01 15:46:15
Rating cannot be construed as a substitute for an exhaustive audit or a fraud detection
Sep 26, 2009Accounting, Audit The credit crisis has exposed weaknesses in many financial intermediaries. How can rating agencies ensure their views are more accurate and unbiased? Despite due diligence, there is always scope for improvement. Credit rating agencies (CRA) do not carry out a separate audit but takes cognisance of the information available from annual reports, submissions from management, secondary sources and opinions from lenders/ investors. [more...]
Date: 2009-09-26 05:31:47
The Mailbag
Welcome to a quick, year-end mailbag; a sampling of reactions to some recent ombudsman's columns and some letters from earlier in the month that I ... , Alexander, ND I just finished watching the "Now" program (Dec. 26) on the credit rating agencies ... of credit default swaps in this area. I am not a financial professional, but it seems [more...]
Date: 2008-12-29 18:58:17
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