fitch ratings

Credit Ratings Agencies Corrupt

Submitted by on

A Senate panel investigating the causes of the nation's financial crisis on Thursday unveiled evidence that credit-ratings agencies knowingly gave inflated ratings to complex deals backed by shaky U.S. mortgages in exchange for lucrative fees. - McClatchy News Reporting

There will be a Senate hearing, Wall Street and the Financial Crisis: The Role of Credit Rating Agencies by the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations today on the credit ratings agencies. From the Press Release:

Fitch Ratings Report - 80% of all derivatives concentrated at 5 companies

Submitted by on

Remember those nuclear time bombs called derivatives, structured finance vehicles we've been writing about for months?

A new Fitch Agency report, 'Derivatives: A Closer Look at What New Disclosures in the U.S. Reveal (you must login, very obnoxious website!) show:

80% of the derivative assets and liabilities carried on the balance sheets of 100 companies reviewed by Fitch were held by five banks: JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, and Morgan Stanley. Those five banks also account for more than 96% of the companies' exposure to credit derivatives.