Bond insurance down to 5% of new issues from 50%…
BABs have reduced supply…
Are credit ratings to be trusted?
Municipal revenues has declined…
“We don’t expect the muni market to collapse…”
From Michael Greenberger, former CFTC General Counsel, at the Make Markets Be Markets conference. (HT Credit Risk Chronicles)
Pending Derivatives Legislation and Legislative Proposals
The Obama Administration White Paper
In response to the catastrophic systemic failure caused by unregulated derivatives, the Obama Administration in its June 2009 White Paper proposed that all standardized OTC derivatives be subject to clearing and [...]
Repost from Chris Whalen’s Institutional Risk Analyst:
~~~ “… Thus we extend and pretend, a policy choice that ensures years of economic stagnation and perhaps even a new financial crisis when non-bank financial institutions start to fail due to ZIRP and the related predations of OTC derivatives. The Fed argues that the large banks cannot be restructured because [...]
Friday, February 26, 2010
Transparency creates stability in financial markets… this is a foundational precept of our system but is rarely argued… the following is from a speech by CFTC Chairman Gensler to the “Energy Bar Association” on February 24th…
~~~ Transparent Trading Requirement
“… It is not enough, though, simply to promote transparency to the regulators.
Financial reform will be incomplete [...]
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Repost from Finance Tangent … ~~~ The looming budget crisis affecting states like Arizona, California, Illinois and others, is prompting leaders to look at any option to raise money. Case in point is California that recently put up 17 commercial buildings for sale, including two San Francisco buildings that house the state supreme court [...]
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
SEC Commissioner Elisse Walter commented on a New York Times blog about the need to harmonize the “fiduciary“ obligations of brokers and investment advisors…
What a great way for an official charged with protecting investors to address an issue… in the public.. in plain English no less… kudos to Commissioner Walter for her efforts… restoring Americans [...]
Sunday, February 21, 2010
From The Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance and Financial Regulation
Luis A. Aguilar is a Commissioner at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
This post is based on Commissioner Aguilar’s remarks at the recent SEC Speaks conference.
~~~ ” … The recent crisis made clear that the financial sector was, and remains, dangerously exposed to firms that are [...]
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Paul Solman of PBS talks to Bill Black, a former bank regulator, about recurrent bank fraud… the still unanswered question is why has no one been prosecuted for financial crimes… I believe this question will increase in importance… Americans have suffered too much and borne too high a price in this crisis… people caused [...]
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Standard and Poor’s will begin using an identifier to distinguish between their ratings on structured finance products and other ratings… this is a good step forward for the markets… (H/T Credit Risk Chronicles)
~~~”As market participants will be aware, under the European Regulation on Credit Rating Agencies (Regulation (EC) No 1060/2009) in force from December 2009 (the [...]
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Repost from the Heritage Foundation blog… imagine… the idea of “servant leadership“…
~~~ Yesterday’s Rasmussen poll reveals what anyone who has been watching the news for the past year already knows — Americans are angry. They are angry at their government and its failures to provide solutions to the current problems. According to today’s poll, 75% [...]