http://www.institutionalriskanalytics.com Welcome to the RSS feed for "The IRA Analyst", the weekly information newsletter of Insitutional Risk Analytics. en-us info@institutionalriskanalytics.com finance RSS 2.0 generation class http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rsshttp://us1.institutionalriskanalytics.com/pub/IRAstory.asp?tag=2911-Jul-2008(This is most recent IRA Analyst edition.) - One idea on Wachovia Bank: Shoot the WB BOD, merge WB with Wells Fargo and let the latter run the business.http://us1.institutionalriskanalytics.com/pub/IRAstory.asp?tag=29023-Jun-2008The IRA discusses the monoline insurers and rating agency reformhttp://us1.institutionalriskanalytics.com/pub/IRAstory.asp?tag=28919-Jun-2008We suspect that BAC is playing a very dangerous game and is going to continue to drag their feet on closing the CFC dealhttp://us1.institutionalriskanalytics.com/pub/IRAstory.asp?tag=28815-Jun-2008The IRA was trolling the financial services channel in Washington last week, meeting with regulators and members of Congress to discuss the various topics arising from the widening subprime debacle. Probably the most significant discovery during our trip is news that the FDIC is making feverish operational preparations for an unprecedented wave of bank failures, large and small. This data point tracks with the rising number of calls we have been receiving at IRA HQ in Los Angeles from retail customers about the financial condition of specific banking institutions. http://us1.institutionalriskanalytics.com/pub/IRAstory.asp?tag=28711-Jun-2008According to his bio, Martin Mayer, unemployed since 1954, is the author of 34 books, of which four Madison Avenue, USA; The Schools; The Lawyers and The Bankers, were major best-sellers. The Lawyers for many years held the record as the book most frequently stolen from the Mid-Manhattan Library, a reflection, said a librarian, on the kind of kid who goes to law school these days. Since 1993 Mayer has been a Guest Scholar in economic studies at The Brookings Institution. The IRA spoke to him during two interviews in New York last week, including lunch at Spark's with IRA CEO Dennis Santiago.http://us1.institutionalriskanalytics.com/pub/IRAstory.asp?tag=2869-Jun-2008The bottom line is that when investors look at financial stocks and particularly the largest US banks the question must be asked: Are any of these business models sufficiently robust and stable to warrant a place in any portfolio allocation, especially a portfolio that requires investment-grade assets?http://us1.institutionalriskanalytics.com/pub/IRAstory.asp?tag=2853-Jun-2008The management changes at Wachovia Bank (NYSE:WB) and Washington Mutual (NYSE:WM) illustrate how the subprime debacle, a slow-motion systemic market event which has already affected thousands of people and destroyed as many livelihoods, is slowing decimating the CSUITES of most major banks. http://us1.institutionalriskanalytics.com/pub/IRAstory.asp?tag=28327-May-2008We first met Richard Alford too many years ago at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Dick worked as an economist in the FRBNY's foreign department, contributing to the weekly report for the Federal Open Market Committee and helping to coordinate market intervention by the Fed's foreign exchange trading desk. During those years of the Plaza Accord and the FX market intervention by the Group of Seven nations, the world seemed to revolve around the United States and the dollar. Since then, Alford and most of our former colleagues from the FRBNY have migrated to the private sector, working either for the large banks or the hedge funds that trade the world of foreign exchange and macro trends. Alford has been working in the latter for the past two decades, most recently for Squam Capital Partners. We spoke to him last week about the dollar, the US economy and how he believes that the Fed and Washington generally have mishandled monetary policy for the past two decades.http://us1.institutionalriskanalytics.com/pub/IRAstory.asp?tag=28222-May-2008It is a matter of faith among the risk management community that Lewis Ranieri is God - or at least knows God. But at the moment Ranieri, who is best known as one of the founders of structured finance, is not having a lot of fun. The cause of the angst is Franklin Bancorp (NASDAQ:FBTX), the $5 billion asset TX state chartered bank which Ranieri and some of his cohorts started after the successful Bank United buy and build effort. News reports suggest that a combination of internal controls problems and asset quality issues are dragging the bank down. http://us1.institutionalriskanalytics.com/pub/IRAstory.asp?tag=28119-May-2008http://us1.institutionalriskanalytics.com/pub/IRAstory.asp?tag=28013-May-2008http://us1.institutionalriskanalytics.com/pub/IRAstory.asp?tag=2797-May-2008We received so many comments and questions on our previous missive regarding the pending acquisition of Countrywide Financial (NYSE:CFC) by Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) that we are going to feature reader comments and our responses in this issue of The IRA.http://us1.institutionalriskanalytics.com/pub/IRAstory.asp?tag=2785-May-2008Last week, we described how a Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) acquisition of Countrywide Financial (NYSE:CFC) might go forward -- if BAC was willing to endure uncertainty with respect to CFC's current and unliquidated liabilities. Now we look at the other prospect - namely a busted deal, a regulatory intervention and the sale of the bank sub by the FDIC as or after CFC enters bankruptcy.http://us1.institutionalriskanalytics.com/pub/IRAstory.asp?tag=2771-May-2008Back in January of this year, we asked whether Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) intends to stand behind the debt holders of Countrywide Financial Corp (NYSE:CFC) when BAC acquires the latter later this year. ... On April 30, 2008, BAC filed a draft form S-4 with the SEC describing the formal terms of the offer to CFC shareholders. The draft document does not yet contain a date for the special meeting of CFC shareholders nor does it contain a final offer price for the CFC shareholders.http://us1.institutionalriskanalytics.com/pub/IRAstory.asp?tag=27528-Apr-2008Kudos to Nelson Schwartz and Eric Dash of The New York Times for the Sunday business section cover-story on Robert Rubin. Their article puts into place another piece of the subprime puzzle. ... Schwartz and Dash describe how former Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan, former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers and Rubin coordinated to undermine efforts by CFTC Chairperson Brooksley Born to impose greater federal oversight of OTC derivatives markets.http://us1.institutionalriskanalytics.com/pub/IRAstory.asp?tag=27425-Apr-2008http://us1.institutionalriskanalytics.com/pub/IRAstory.asp?tag=27320-Apr-2008http://us1.institutionalriskanalytics.com/pub/IRAstory.asp?tag=27216-Apr-2008http://us1.institutionalriskanalytics.com/pub/IRAstory.asp?tag=27113-Apr-2008http://us1.institutionalriskanalytics.com/pub/IRAstory.asp?tag=2708-Apr-2008http://us1.institutionalriskanalytics.com/pub/IRAstory.asp?tag=2696-Apr-2008http://us1.institutionalriskanalytics.com/pub/IRAstory.asp?tag=2682-Apr-2008http://us1.institutionalriskanalytics.com/pub/IRAstory.asp?tag=26730-Mar-2008http://us1.institutionalriskanalytics.com/pub/IRAstory.asp?tag=26624-Mar-2008http://us1.institutionalriskanalytics.com/pub/IRAstory.asp?tag=26416-Mar-2008http://us1.institutionalriskanalytics.com/pub/Catalog.asp1-Jan-2006Use this link to go to the IRA articles archive page.