against-the-new

SEC Issues Crucial New Ruling On Mortgages, Loans

by AP on January 20, 2011

WASHINGTON — Federal regulators are requiring firms selling securities tied to mortgages, credit cards and student loans, which froze during the financial crisis, to publicly report information on the loans that back them. The Securities and Exchange Commission adopted new rules Thursday requiring firms selling the securities to make a thorough review of the loans backing them and then to report the findings of the review to the public. The markets for securities backed by bundles of mortgages, auto and student loans, and credit cards have remained weak since the crisis, largely because investors are unsure about the quality of the loans. The rules are required by the financial overhaul law enacted last summer. They will apply to offerings of asset-backed securities starting next Jan. 1. The rules are intended “to restore investor confidence” in the markets for asset-backed securities, SEC Chairman Mary Schapiro said before the 3-2 vote. The two Republican SEC commissioners, Kathleen Casey and Troy Paredes, voted against the new rules. When the housing bubble burst in 2007 and defaults on home mortgages began to soar, securities tied to high-risk subprime mortgages became toxic and investors in them, such as big Wall Street banks, lost billions. The distress spread to the markets for other types of securities as investors lost confidence in their value. Banks were unable to continue selling the securities and using the proceeds to make loans available to commercial companies and other borrowers, and the pipeline for credit froze. Last year about $110 billion in new asset-backed securities were offered for sale, according to the SEC. That’s a dramatic decline from around $750 billion at the markets’ peak in 2006.

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SEC Issues Crucial New Ruling On Mortgages, Loans

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Goldman Sachs’s Hudson Mezzanine CDO Subect Of New Probe By SEC

by Ryan McCarthy on June 10, 2010

June 10 (Bloomberg) — Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s $2 billion Hudson Mezzanine collateralized debt obligation, sold in 2006, is the target of a probe by the Securities and Exchange Commission, according to a person with knowledge of the matter. The inquiry into the CDO may not lead to any additional actions against the New York-based securities firm, said the person, who declined to be identified because the investigation isn’t public. Michael DuVally, a spokesman for Goldman Sachs, declined to comment, as did SEC spokesman John Nester. The Financial Times reported the probe yesterday.

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Goldman Sachs’s Hudson Mezzanine CDO Subect Of New Probe By SEC

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BayernLB Ends Business Relationship With Goldman Sachs on SEC Fraud Suit

April 21, 2010

By Aaron Kirchfeld and Frances Robinson April 21 (Bloomberg) — Bayerische Landesbank, Germany’s second-biggest state-owned lender, has ended its business relationship with Goldman Sachs Group Inc. after allegations of fraud by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission against the New York-based firm, a spokesman for the German lender said. Munich-based BayernLB spokesman Matthias Priwitzer confirmed a previous report in German newspaper Handelsblatt by telephone today. He declined to provide further details.

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Seasonal Flu Shots Don’t Protect Against Swine Flu Strain, U.S. Study Says

November 12, 2009

By Tom Randall Nov. 12 (Bloomberg) — Seasonal flu shots didn’t protect against the new swine flu strain that’s now responsible for 99.6 percent of U.S. infections, according to a federal study. Patients who were vaccinated in the 2008-2009 flu season were just as likely as unvaccinated people to become infected during the first wave of the swine flu pandemic, according to today’s study by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. The study supports findings from a similar analysis in Australia, where scientists found no evidence of any effect from the seasonal vaccine on swine flu. Swine flu, or H1N1, infected as many as 5.7 million Americans from April through July, according to the CDC. The outbreak is at its highest level now and is responsible for almost 8 percent of U.S. doctor visits, the agency said. “These results, taken together with other studies, do not support an effect of seasonal 2008-2009” vaccine on swine flu, CDC scientists said in an editorial following the study in the agency’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report . “Results from additional studies using more rigorous study designs and methods currently under way in the U.S. and other countries will further define seasonal influenza vaccine effectiveness.” Previous studies from Mexico and Canada showed conflicting results, with the Mexico study showing a protective effect from the seasonal vaccine and a cluster of five Canadian studies showing that the seasonal vaccine actually increased chances of contracting swine flu. The report from Mexico may have been skewed by the people chosen for the study, and the Canadian studies haven’t been published yet, according to the CDC. The CDC study compared vaccination rates of 356 people who contracted swine flu with rates among people who stayed healthy, finding no significant difference. It also supports studies that showed levels of swine flu protective antibody in the blood aren’t affected by the seasonal flu vaccine. To contact the reporters on this story: Tom Randall in New York at trandall6@bloomberg.net

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