Corporate Sleaze

Shake-Up at French Bank After Trading Scandal

Once expected to succeed Mr. Bouton at the helm of the bank, Mr. Mustier was in charge of all investment banking and trading during the period that a trader, Jérôme Kerviel, accumulated 50 billion euros, or $77.7 billion, in unauthorized bets, which cost Société Générale 4.9 billion euros to unravel in January.

Wall Street’s Graveyard -Portfolio, found on Dealbreaker

Here’s a walk through Wall Street’s graveyard of once powerful banking names.

What’s Behind Wall Street’s Rift Over Fed?

…a rift has developed on Wall Street over whether access to funds from the Federal Reserve is worth the price of increased regulation. Lehman Brothers is reportedly willing to accept the regulation while Goldman Sachs is said to oppose it, and is willing to give up access to the new Fed facility if necessary.

Moody’s Implied Ratings Show MBIA, Ambac Turn to Junk

he team from Moody’s Analytics, which operates separately from Moody’s ratings division, uses credit-default swap prices as an alternative system of grading debt. These so-called implied ratings often differ significantly from Moody’s official grades.

The implied ratings frequently show that swap traders think debt is in more danger of defaulting than Moody’s credit ratings signify. And here’s the kicker: The swaps traders are usually right.

“When I first saw this product, my reaction was, `Goodness gracious, Moody’s has got a product that is basically publicizing where the market disagrees with Moody’s,”’ says David Munves, managing director for credit strategy research at Moody’s Analytics.

The title isn’t very fitting really, should be something more like Moody’s Comes Out of the Closet.

10 Years for Ex-Banker Convicted of Insider Trading

A former Credit Suisse investment banker convicted of insider trading was sentenced to 10 years in prison by a judge who said Wall Street professionals were failing to understand that it was a serious crime to cheat in the markets.