Subprime fall-out The rising defaults on subprime mortgages in the US have triggered a global crisis for the money markets. Hedge funds and banks across the world have found themselves exposed
The housing meltdown is likely to be extended and ‘continues to pose a considerable downside risk to the US economy’, the US Treasury secretary said in a speech in London
Share issue insufficient, says Citigroup
The aim of this year’s report by the Bank for International Settlements is clear: it is to reduce the frequency and severity of crises. It is not enough to say that we can clear up afterwards. That is too complacent and too one-sided, writes Martin Wolf
It is important that we move quickly to adapt the regulatory system to address the vulnerabilities exposed by this financial crisis, says Timothy Geithner
The politics of globalisation lags ever further behind the economics, writes Philip Stephens. For all its tacit recognition that power has been flowing eastwards, the west still wants to imagine things as they used to be – when financial crises were something that happened somewhere else
We need to set the country on a path that sees spending growing more slowly than the economy, and the share of income taken by the state falling, says George Osborne
The resolution of Cheyne Finance creates a blueprint for the restructuring of all of the other SIVs and signals improved credit market health
Co-operation between public and private sectors could provide both lenders and borrowers with an incentivised alternative to foreclosure, says Wilbur Ross
Elites cede power only reluctantly and there are signs of an effort to stave off the beginning of the end of the golden age, writes David Rothkopf
FGIC has already lost its top-notch ratings, while Ambac and MBIA, the biggest bond insurers, are likely to have another week or so to come up with a firm plan. Who will hold their nerve longest in the monoline poker game?
Shares in Macquarie Fortress Notes dropped 56 per cent after the investor in high-yield products was forced to sell some US debt investments at a loss after breaching bank covenants
Leading banks were under renewed pressure to fast-track plans to shore up struggling bond insurers after Warren Buffett revealed he had offered to take over the high-quality portions of the insurers’ portfolios
Confidence in the credit markets suffered a fresh blow after AIG, the insurance group, disclosed problems with valuing its derivatives portfolio
Governance of financial groups is being questioned after the market shake-out, but the shortcomings may lie more in the system than among individuals
Investment bank to set up derivatives business in London and Asia in a move that highlights the financial health of Japanese institutions relative to their US and European rivals
The pugnacious head of Lehman Brothers – the longest-serving chief of a big Wall Street bank – faces a tough battle to save it from being sold to a larger institution
Banks and investment banks whose health is crucial to the global financial system should have a unified regulatory framework with capital and liquidity requirements, according to the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
Home ownership was long an unattainable dream for middle-class Kenyans. But banks in Africa are making aggressive moves to expand their mortgage businesses
Unless we are comfortable with a crisis every five years or so, financial regulation must be radically reconsidered. Tighter rules are desirable in the longer-run interests of the banking industry itself let alone the public’s. What should such regulation look like, asks Martin Wolf
Regulators are to take into account the structure of bankers’ bonuses and consider the implications of remuneration when they assess banks’ exposure to financial risk
Some blame the politicians, others the central bank officials (for creating asset bubbles). Abigail Hofman blames the corrosive culture of investment banking
