Thursday, January 31, 2008
From an interview with Seth Merrin in Waters…
“The Internet will democratize capital and make it location-agnostic, according to Merrin. “Imagine the possibilities for any good company anywhere on the planet to be able to access capital. Think of what this access could do for all these emerging economies,” he says. “Think about the potential.””…
Thursday, January 31, 2008
What can transparency do?
William Ackman, of Pershing Square Capital Management, is tearing down the old methods of doing business… he has been taking on the bond insurers publicly for a while… now he releases a model which calculates the solvency of the bond insurers as an open source tool for market participants, regulators, rating agency […]
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
From Treasury Secretary Paulson’s speech today…
“Predictably, our capital markets are being impacted as we weather the housing correction and uncertainty in the housing sector. Investors’ concerns about credit have increased dramatically, and market liquidity has been, in turn, similarly impacted. The plentiful flow of liquidity that fueled the boom in borrowing and leverage across asset […]
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
SEC Justice FBI
From the WSJ:
WASHINGTON — The Federal Bureau of Investigation has opened criminal inquiries into 14 companies as part of an investigation of the subprime-mortgage crisis, FBI officials said. The probe is focusing on accounting fraud, securitization of loans and insider trading, among other areas.
The FBI wouldn’t identify the companies under investigation but said […]
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
From Reuters reporting:
NEW YORK, Jan 29 (Reuters) - Connecticut State Attorney General Richard Blumenthal said on Tuesday his office has issued subpoenas to all major rating agencies and bond insurers in a widening probe of industry practices related to the subprime mortgage crisis.
In an interview, Blumenthal also said his office is investigating the role of […]
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
We always welcome new rating agency firms…
Creditpointe, an institutional rating firm, has jumped into the fray… they provide some useful flow charts on their processes… Welcome Creditpointe!
Saturday, January 26, 2008
Very important reporting from the New York Times today…
“A company that analyzed the quality of thousands of home loans for investment banks has agreed to provide evidence to New York state prosecutors that the banks had detailed information about the risks posed by ill-fated subprime mortgages.
Investigators are looking at whether that information, which could have […]
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
XBRL… the data tag language for public company financial filings may soon be mandatory for SEC filers… CFO.com reports…
“Extensible Business Reporting Language, the computer language for financial-statement filing better known as XBRL, could soon be coming to a regulatory filing near you.
The Securities and Exchange Commission may propose the mandatory use of XBRL in […]
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
From Reuters:
STRASBOURG, France, Jan 14 (Reuters) - It is too early to say if a mandatory shake-up of credit rating agencies was needed to protect investors who use their ratings, a top European Union market regulator said on Monday.
Central banks and market watchdogs around the world are examining what lessons can be learned from […]
