ratings agencies

  • 14 Apr 2011 at 11:47 AM

Senate Subcommittee Report Shows Ratings Agencies Willing To Be Defiled By Paying Customers, Able To Look In The Mirror By Pretending To Have Standards To Each Other

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Late last evening, Senator Carl Levin released a report of his investigation into the financial crisis entitled “Wall Street And The Financial Crisis: Anatomy Of A Financial Collapse.” The majority of the blame goes toward investment banks, particularly Goldman Sachs (described by Levin- no relation- as “a financial snake pit rife with greed, conflicts of interest, and wrongdoing”), as well as Deutsche Bank, whose former trader, Greg Lippmann (he of “I’m short your house” and sushi spreadsheet fame) gets a lot of airtime. Also criticized are the ratings agencies, who Levin says “weakened their standards as each compete to provide the most favorable rating to win business and greater market share.” To that end, the Senator from Michigan illustrates his point with a story about Standard & Poor’s and UBS. Continue reading »

  • 03 Feb 2011 at 1:30 PM

Anyone Want A Job With Meredith Whitney?

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Have you been dying to work under Meredith Whitney but hadn’t heard of any openings at the firm? Now’s your chance! As you may have heard, Whitney is starting her own ratings agency and has applied to become a Nationally Recognized Statistical Ratings Organization (NRSRO. Fortune‘s Katie Benner has some of the details, including a presentation of the biz submitted to the SEC. Apparently there are many opportunities for candidates– MW expects that she’ll hire 200 people in the first year and grow to 650 by year three. On dollars and cents, Whitney says she’ll pay analysts $225,000 a year (to top Moody’s $212,200). Inquire today. Continue reading »

  • 09 Dec 2010 at 1:53 PM

Ireland: Fitch Has No Idea What It’s Talking About

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Earlier today, Fitch downgraded Ireland three notches to a triple-B plus rating, citing “weaker prospects and greater uncertainty regarding the economy as a result of the intensification of the financial crisis,” noting that Ireland’s sovereign credit profile is no longer consistent with a high investment grade rating.” According to the Emerald Isle, this is bull shit. Continue reading »

  • 03 Jun 2010 at 12:03 PM

Einhorn: We Don’t Need No Stinking Ratings Agencies

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This morning, over the phone, David Einhorn compared the fear over not having official ratings agencies to utter terror he felt when his parents decided to move to Wisconsin when he was seven. “I didn’t know what would happen. I was very upset at the time, but we moved it kind of worked out OK. The idea that If we didn’t have official ratings, that something bad would happen, I don’t think that makes much sense,” he told Bloomberg TV. Continue reading »

  • 02 Jun 2010 at 1:09 PM

Bill Ackman: “Wait To Rate”

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The Pershing Square founder’s Ira Sohn conference presentation on “how to save the ratings agencies (and the capital markets).”

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  • 13 May 2010 at 2:29 PM

More Subpoenas for Big Banks, This Time from Cuomo

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After filing suit earlier this week against Ivy Asset Management for feeding pension fund money to Bernie Madoff, NY Attorney General Andrew Cuomo is turning his attention back to the big banks, which will obviously score many more political points when he runs for governor in November.

The latest probe from Cuomo involves the banks’ efforts to mislead the ratings agencies on structured products. His office is looking into whether Moody’s, S&P and Fitch tinkered with their models so banks could get higher ratings on CDOs and other products.

Subpoenas recently went out to Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, UBS, Citigroup, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, Crédit Agricole and BofA/Merrill Lynch, according to the New York TImes. Continue reading »

  • 13 May 2010 at 11:19 AM

Ackman: Rating Agencies Should Suffer

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You can’t go around rating “shitty deals” AAA and get away with it.

I actually think it would be a good thing for rating agencies if they suffered some consequences for bad opinions.”

“One of the problems is, when you have an institution who is allowed to write opinions that have enormous market impact, but they have no economic – they have an exemption for free speech, it can create some problems.  Rating agencies, in my view, during the credit crisis acted effectively as underwriters. Deals could not get done without their primatur.”

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