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SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2009
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NEWS ABOUT: credit default swap

credit default swap stories: 17 news summaries

CIT Bust Would Cost US $2.3B, Earn Goldman $1B

Taxpayers shares could go up in smoke while Goldman gains

Oct 5, 09 4:29 AM CDT
(Newser) - Troubled commercial lender CIT, circling the drain for more than a year, would cost taxpayers $2.3 billion in shares purchased by the Treasury Department if it files for Chapter 11 soon—but Goldman Sachs, which gave the lender emergency funding, stands to collect a $1 billion windfall if it... More »

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Goldman Sachs • bankruptcy • risk management • bailout • Chapter 11 • credit default swap • CIT Group

whistleblower speaks

 Get Ready 
 for Bigger, 
 Badder Bernies 

Ponzi schemer will soon look small-time

Aug 12, 09 8:32 AM CDT
(Newser) - If you think you’re mad at Bernie Madoff, just wait. Harry Markopolos, who blew the whistle on Madoff, says there are more baddies out there who will make good ol’ Bernie “look like small time.” While speaking at a Southampton church, the fraud investigator predicted scandals related... More »

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fraud • Ponzi scheme • credit default swap • Bernard Madoff • Harry Markopolos • Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities

Feds Probe Shady Market
for Derivatives

Banks may have unfair edge in information on
credit-default swaps

Jul 14, 09 9:33 AM CDT
(Newser) - The Justice Department is probing the market for credit-default swaps, the largely unregulated derivatives that contributed to the financial crisis, Bloomberg reports. Justice is investigating whether big banks have unfair access to price information through their ownership of a private company that provides data to investors. The Obama administration wants... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Department of Justice • derivatives market • Lehman Brothers • credit market • regulation • bank regulation • banks • financial crisis • credit default swap

GLOSSIES

 One Man to Blame at AIG 


Jul 7, 09 7:31 PM CDT
(Newser) - AIG’s contribution to the world financial crisis may be bafflingly complex, but a single villain is emerging, writes Michael Lewis in Vanity Fair. Joseph Cassano was a "cartoon despot" who ran AIG's Financial Products division, now infamous for its credit-default swaps. Cassano, unfortunately, "didn’t fully... More »

MORE ABOUT:
subprime mortgages • insurance • AIG • financial crisis • credit default swap • Joseph Cassano • financial products

Banks Privately Chafe Against Derivatives Reform

Embrace change in public but quietly fight it

May 29, 09 7:22 AM CDT
(Newser) - The Obama administration is pushing to reform the market for financial derivatives by requiring new reporting to make trades more transparent. In public, Wall Street is saying it's in favor of the changes, but as the Wall Street Journal reports, the banks are pushing hard against reforms behind the scenes.... More »

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derivatives market • transparency • bank regulation • Obama administration • financial crisis • credit default swap

(Newser) - President Obama wants to put the so-called dark markets under control, the New York Times reports, seeking congressional approval to regulate the byzantine world of derivatives trading—which played a large role in the current financial mess. In a letter to lawmakers, Treasury chief Timothy Geithner calls for an oversight... More »

MORE ABOUT:
investing • Wall Street • Warren Buffett • derivatives market • AIG • regulation • Commodity Futures Trading Commission • Obama administration • financial crisis • credit default swap • President Obama • Timothy Geithner • Securities and Exchange Commission

(Newser) - In times like these, everyone’s got problems. Exxon and Chevron? Finding safe places to stash $40 billion they stockpiled while oil prices were stratospheric last summer. “The biggest challenge we’ve had is making sure all the cash is there every morning,” Exxon’s CEO tells Bloomberg,... More »

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Exxon • Chevron • oil price • Exxon Mobil • Big Oil • cash • credit default swap

AIG's Bailout Cash Flowing to Hedge Funds

$52B has paid off
those who bet against the housing market

Mar 18, 09 7:30 AM CDT
(Newser) - The government cash flowing steadily into AIG is going in no small part to pay off hedge funds that bet against the housing market, the Wall Street Journal reports. The hedge funds placed credit default swap bets with other banks—Deutsche Bank and Goldman Sachs are specifically named in documents... More »

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housing market • Goldman Sachs • Deutsche Bank • AIG • subprime crisis • credit default swap

OPINION

 AIG CEO: Bonuses 
 'Distasteful,' Necessary 

Liddy says paying employees will help taxpayer in long run

Mar 18, 09 6:23 AM CDT
(Newser) - AIG's $165 million bonus payout has produced "a palpable wave of anger," admits Edward Liddy, the insurance giant's government-appointed CEO. But in an op-ed for the Washington Post, Liddy says that paying employees now will prevent "undue risk" and help AIG wind down the most dangerous positions... More »

MORE ABOUT:
executive compensation • AIG • bonuses • bailout • Edward Liddy • financial crisis • credit default swap

ANALYSIS

MBA Programs Face Their Role in Financial Crisis


Mar 17, 09 3:50 PM CDT
(Newser) - Executives have taken a lot of blame for the financial crisis, whether for focusing on short-term gains in stock price or placing too much faith in ultra-complex financial instruments, writes Bradford Plumer for the New Republic. But what about the business schools that taught them to manage that way in... More »

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recession • business school • mortgage backed securities • MBA Programs • financial institutions • Indiana University • financial crisis • credit default swap

(Newser) - A “multitude of regulators” failed to spot the liquidity risk AIG was piling on until it was too late, and should have stepped in sooner, the Office of Thrift Supervision told the Senate today. A relatively small unit of AIG was piling up credit default swaps, and “no... More »

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AIG • Office of Thrift Supervision • Senate Banking Committee • bailout • credit default swap • regulator

 Obama Moves Quickly to 
 Overhaul Finance Rules 

Details of plan to emerge by April when prez heads to London summit

Jan 25, 09 6:58 AM CST
(Newser) - The Obama administration aims to quickly beef up regulation of the US financial system to stave off economic implosion, the New York Times reports. Plans include tightening rules on hedge funds, credit rating agencies, and mortgage firms, and keeping a closer watch on financial instruments at the center of the... More »

MORE ABOUT:
SEC • hedge fund • mortgage brokers • regulation • economy • credit rating • financial crisis • credit default swap • President Obama

 AIG's Downfall, Part 2:
 'Almost Free Money'

Credit default swaps change the game

Dec 30, 08 2:20 PM CST
(Newser) - According to the computer models, credit default swaps almost couldn’t fail. They were the latest derivative contract in 1998, and AIG Financial Products decided to get on board, the Washington Post reports, in the second part of its series on the insurer’s self-destruction. When AIG struck its... More »

MORE ABOUT:
derivatives market • AIG • Hank Greenberg • financial crisis • credit default swap

GLOSSIES

 Wall Street's Doom 
 Years in the Making 

Liar's Poker writer saw this coming long ago, and so did some contrarian money men

Nov 27, 08 4:00 PM CST
(Newser) - When he wrote Liar’s Poker in 1989, Michael Lewis figured the end of Wall Street was near. After all, it had hired him, a 24-year-old with neither experience nor interest in finance. “Sooner rather than later,” he writes in Portfolio, “someone was going to identify... More »

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Wall Street • Michael Lewis • collateralized debt obligations • subprime crisis • financial crisis • credit default swap

Brutal Market
Doesn't
Spare Buffett

Berkshire Hathaway takes biggest
dive in decades

Nov 20, 08 3:53 AM CST
(Newser) - The "Oracle of Omaha" is proving even he's not immune from market blows, reports Bloomberg. Warren Buffet's Berkshire Hathaway took a 12% nosedive yesterday, its biggest one-day fall since 1987's Black Monday. The conglomerate is down 41% for the year and has been dropping steadily for eight days after... More »

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investing • Warren Buffett • investment • Berkshire Hathaway • Oracle of Omaha • share price • credit default swap

Goldman Urged Clients to Bet Against Bonds
It Sold for Calif.

Could have cost taxpayers millions

Nov 11, 08 2:19 PM CST
(Newser) - Goldman Sachs charged the state of California millions of dollars to handle a bond issue, then told big clients to bet against those bonds, a move that could have cost taxpayers millions, according to a confidential report the company sent out in September. While the advice isn’t illegal, it’... More »

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California • Goldman Sachs • municipal bonds • financial crisis • credit default swap

 Greenspan: 
 I Was Wrong 
 to Trust Banks 

Fed's push for deregulation helped 'nnce-in-a-century credit tsunami'

Oct 23, 08 11:51 AM CDT
(Newser) - Alan Greenspan made a mild mea culpa today as lawmakers grilled him on his role in a financial crisis the former Fed chief called a “once-in-a-century credit tsunami,” the Wall Street Journal reports. Asked if he was wrong to champion deregulation, Greenspan replied, “partially,” explaining he’... More »

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Federal Reserve • Alan Greenspan • regulation • deregulation • financial crisis • credit default swap

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