Wall Street & Technology: Blog http://www.wallstreetandtech.com/blog/ Copyright 2010 Wed, 27 Jan 2010 10:02:21 -0500 http://www.movabletype.org/?v=3.14 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss AIG and Backdoor Bailouts? WSJ's Dennis Berman tells Kelsey Hubbard about ongoing investigations into the bailout of AIG, including allegations of a coverup over payments made to some of the biggest banks who had exposure to the collapsed insurer. Was there a conspiracy to pay banks in full, but not make the news of the payments public? But the big questions: where was the Fed when AIG was writing the toxic contracts in the first place? Where was the oversight as AIG took on more and more excessive risk?

]]> http://www.wallstreetandtech.com/blog/archives/2010/01/aig_and_backdoo.html http://www.wallstreetandtech.com/blog/archives/2010/01/aig_and_backdoo.html Risk Management Wed, 27 Jan 2010 10:02:21 -0500 FDIC May Securitize Bad Assets Each time the government seizes a failed bank, taxpayers own more of them. So with five banks recently seized by regulators, what's the FDIC going to do with all those bad assets? It turns out the FDIC is planning on securitizing the assets and selling it off to investors. Sound familiar? But before you think this is just another bad move, the FDIC actually had great success with this in the 1980s and early 1990s. American Public Media’s Jeremy Hobson reports.

]]> http://www.wallstreetandtech.com/blog/archives/2010/01/fdic_may_securi.html http://www.wallstreetandtech.com/blog/archives/2010/01/fdic_may_securi.html OTC Derivatives Tue, 26 Jan 2010 11:32:13 -0500 CFTC Chairman Calls for Comprehensive Reform to OTC Derivatives Market Gary Gensler, chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), says that most important thing that needs to happen to the over the counter derivatives market is comprehensive reform. “The number one thing is transparency,” just like when securities are traded in the public market and everyone knows the price and the volumes. “We need to bring that same reform to this large and unregulated market,” Gensler said in an interview with MSNBC. Hear Gensler’s comments on OTC derivatives, futures contracts and more in this brief video clip.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

]]> http://www.wallstreetandtech.com/blog/archives/2009/11/cftc_chairman_c.html http://www.wallstreetandtech.com/blog/archives/2009/11/cftc_chairman_c.html OTC Derivatives Fri, 20 Nov 2009 11:23:35 -0500 The CFTC’s Warning that Went Unheeded In the following video, PBS’s FRONTLINE takes a look at how the CFTC tried to regulate the derivatives markets back in the fall of 2008. The then head of the CTFC, Brooksley Born, faced pressure from then Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan, Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin and former SEC Chairman Arthur Levitt to stop trying to regulate the derivatives industry. This is the first time that Born speaks out about the opposition she faced from The Fed, Congress and the Clinton Administration. And she warns it will undoubtedly happen again, unless regulations change.

]]> http://www.wallstreetandtech.com/blog/archives/2009/10/the_cftcs_warni.html http://www.wallstreetandtech.com/blog/archives/2009/10/the_cftcs_warni.html OTC Derivatives Wed, 21 Oct 2009 11:01:59 -0500 Bet Your Life? Are Life Settlement Securities the next toxic asset? Less than one year after the credit crisis, firms such as Goldman Sachs, Credit Suisse and JP Morgan are creating life settlement securities which are made by repackaging thousands of life insurance policies into tradable securities. Policyholders get money upfront at a fraction of the policy’s value and investors are paid the full value of the policy when the policyholder eventually dies. A no brainer for investors, right? However, DBRS, a credit ratings agency, says that no life settlement security has met its standards for “safety and security” to date. And critics say these products are just like the exotic investments that triggered the financial meltdown. Wall Street claims the products are safe, because they could be structured in a way that not many people of the same age or with the same illnesses would be included in the same security. Now where have we heard that before?

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

]]> http://www.wallstreetandtech.com/blog/archives/2009/10/bet_your_life.html http://www.wallstreetandtech.com/blog/archives/2009/10/bet_your_life.html OTC Derivatives Mon, 12 Oct 2009 10:19:07 -0500 E.U. Unveils Controversial Financial Regulatory Plan Today the E.U. unveiled a plan to overhaul the way banks and financial markets are overseen. Officials hope to present the plan to the G20 in Pittsburgh as a blueprint for averting financial crises. Marketplace's Stephen Beard describes the report.

But will anything actually be accomplished? It’s been more than a year since the credit crisis began and there has been a lot of talk on both sides of the pond about regulatory overhaul, yet nothing has happened. Talk is cheap, but modernizing the regulators so they can monitor today’s (high speed and innovative) financial markets is going to take a lot of work and a huge investment. Simply put, the regulators are not capable of monitoring a mostly electronic marketplace that is getting more complicated and innovative by the day. If lawmakers want to financial regulatory reform, they had better be ready to open the checkbook to the tune of millions of dollars.

Here in the U.S., Congress is beginning two weeks of hearings on banking reform. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner will defend a plan to merge two of the four federal regulators. But the move is drawing its fair share of debate. Marketplace’s John Dimsdale reports.

]]> http://www.wallstreetandtech.com/blog/archives/2009/09/eu_unveils_cont.html http://www.wallstreetandtech.com/blog/archives/2009/09/eu_unveils_cont.html Compliance Wed, 23 Sep 2009 11:13:05 -0500 Move To OTC Clearing Is Right Says LCH.Clearnet CEO As regulators focus on curbing speculation, the Wall Street Journal chats with Roger Liddell, LCH.Clearnet CEO, about whether things are headed in the right direction. Liddell also reveals plans for forex clearing, and updates on a proposed LCH.Clearnet takeover.

]]> http://www.wallstreetandtech.com/blog/archives/2009/08/move_to_otc_cle.html http://www.wallstreetandtech.com/blog/archives/2009/08/move_to_otc_cle.html OTC Derivatives Thu, 13 Aug 2009 10:34:13 -0500 The End Of Wall Street: Why It Happened Here is another well produced and interesting video from the Wall Street Journal about the credit crisis. I don't think there is fresh information here, or breaking news, but the video is easy to watch. Chapter two of this WSJ series takes a look at what was going through the minds of CEOs, corporate boards, fund managers and mortgage lenders as they created hard-to-understand derivatives Warren Buffett once called "weapons of financial mass destruction."

]]> http://www.wallstreetandtech.com/blog/archives/2009/07/the_end_of_wall.html http://www.wallstreetandtech.com/blog/archives/2009/07/the_end_of_wall.html News Analysis Fri, 24 Jul 2009 10:07:38 -0500 The Most Sweeping Changes to Financial Regulation Since the 1930s President Obama is focusing on the next step to fix the financial system: proposing new regulations that are intended to help consumers and put limits on bankers. MSNBC’s Steve Liesman goes over some of the changes, as does CBS News’ Chip Reid in the following videos. Also, new financial regulations will create a new financial consumer protection agency, require banks to carry more capital on their books, regulate derivatives and more, reports American Public Media Marketplace’s Steve Henn in the following audio clip.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy


Watch CBS Videos Online

]]> http://www.wallstreetandtech.com/blog/archives/2009/06/the_most_sweepi.html http://www.wallstreetandtech.com/blog/archives/2009/06/the_most_sweepi.html Compliance Wed, 17 Jun 2009 10:52:52 -0500 The Man Who Knew About Madoff Before Anyone Else Harry Markopolos repeatedly told the Securities and Exchange Commission that Bernie Madoff's investment fund was a fraud. He was ignored, and investors lost billions of dollars. It didn’t take for Markopolos to figure out that Madoff was a fraud, he says in the following video. It took him five minutes to figure out he was a fraud and four hours to mathematically prove it. Markopolos sent five separate reports to the SEC starting in 2000. All of the reports were ignored. Steve Kroft from CBS’s 60 Minutes reports.


Watch CBS Videos Online

]]> http://www.wallstreetandtech.com/blog/archives/2009/06/the_man_who_kne.html http://www.wallstreetandtech.com/blog/archives/2009/06/the_man_who_kne.html Risk Management Mon, 15 Jun 2009 06:34:45 -0500 Peter L. Bernstein Dies, Proponent of Efficient Market Theory Peter L. Bernstein, the author of Against the Gods: The Remarkable Story of Risk and other books, died on June 5th at the age of 90. In this McKinsey Quarterly video from January 2008, the well-known author discusses the meaning of risk and explains why sophisticated mathematical models to control it sometimes go awry.

Ultimately, Peter L. Bernstein will be remembered for his development and refinement of efficient market theory, which helped him bring investing theory -- more than simply picking stocks -- to the general public. Bernstein, it seems, advocated increased regulatory oversight to strengthen the foundation of the markets, while also believing that the wealth and opportunity created by a free market were worth the risk. He also was a Keynesian and he argued that the health of the market economy required public spending on various projects.






]]> http://www.wallstreetandtech.com/blog/archives/2009/06/peter_l_bernste.html http://www.wallstreetandtech.com/blog/archives/2009/06/peter_l_bernste.html Risk Management Tue, 09 Jun 2009 08:55:17 -0500 Overreaching Derivatives Regulation Worries Dealers The regulator of the futures trading industry is proposing new rules for trading financial contracts known as derivatives. John Dimsdale reports that big wheelers and dealers are now fretting about overreaching regulation in this American Public Media audio clip.


]]> http://www.wallstreetandtech.com/blog/archives/2009/06/overreaching_de.html http://www.wallstreetandtech.com/blog/archives/2009/06/overreaching_de.html OTC Derivatives Fri, 05 Jun 2009 07:36:25 -0500 Is the Credit Crunch Finally Abating? Last September, Standard & Poor’s Market, Credit and Risk Strategies Group launched the Credit Crunch Checklist, designed to help investors know when the credit freeze started to thaw. Michael Thompson, head of the group at S&P, says “We are in a lot better shape than we were in September.” The Credit Crunch Checklist looks at a four things, including the prices of homes, inventory of home sales, the spread between the 3-month LIBOR and Fed Funds Rate and the price of crude oil. On three of the four criteria, the Credit Crunch Checklist “has seen major improvements,” said Thompson in this MSNBC" Squawk on the Street" video.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

]]> http://www.wallstreetandtech.com/blog/archives/2009/06/is_the_credit_c.html http://www.wallstreetandtech.com/blog/archives/2009/06/is_the_credit_c.html OTC Derivatives Fri, 05 Jun 2009 07:27:45 -0500 The Rise of a Financial Stability Regulator Just as the Great Depression led to the creation of new institutions and financial practices, the Obama administration is on track to impact financial regulations. One of the new concepts involves a financial stability regulator, Wall Street Journal’s David Wessel explains. The big question remains: “How much power will be given to the new regulator?”

]]> http://www.wallstreetandtech.com/blog/archives/2009/05/the_rise_of_a_f.html http://www.wallstreetandtech.com/blog/archives/2009/05/the_rise_of_a_f.html Compliance Thu, 28 May 2009 10:14:26 -0500 Book Dissects J.P. Morgan During the Financial Meltdown A new book dissects J.P. Morgan’s role in the financial crisis and how JPM managed to both help create the products that would ultimately derail the markets and also how JPM avoided some of the huge losses tied to the financial crisis. Author and journalist Gillian Tett, assistant editor, Financial Times, talks about her new book, "Fool's Gold" in which she analyzes J.P. Morgan and its role in the financial meltdown.

]]> http://www.wallstreetandtech.com/blog/archives/2009/05/book_dissects_j.html http://www.wallstreetandtech.com/blog/archives/2009/05/book_dissects_j.html OTC Derivatives Thu, 14 May 2009 11:04:29 -0500