Word: sec
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 2000-2009
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Last July, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) put out a report detailing how the major credit-ratings agencies abetted the subprime-mortgage meltdown. By wildly overestimating the quality of the dicey securities that Wall Street was churning out, the ratings firms helped investors load up on those securities - the same ones that are now, in many cases, near-worthless and clogging up the financial system. Plenty of people at the ratings agencies were aware of trouble brewing. In December 2006, a manager at Standard & Poor's e-mailed a colleague: "Let's hope we are all retired and wealthy...
...pays for bank presidents to say the most positive things that they can about their firms. They have the benefit of SEC rules that say it is OK to talk about the future as long as there are no guarantees given. In other words, CEOs are allowed to guess without getting into trouble as long as they do not turn their guesses into formal forecasts. In the world of corporate governance it is one of the great "get out of jail free" cards...
...seven-game southern stretch, with a Centenary squad up first that is currently riding a six-game winning streak during which it has outscored its opponents 64-14. While Centenary presents a difficult opening slate for Harvard, the team’s biggest challenge comes against defending SEC champion LSU. The fifth-ranked Tigers feature a stacked lineup anchored by slugger Sean Ochinko, who is batting .464 with six home runs and 27 RBI in just 19 games.“We’re definitely going to play some good teams,” Stack-Babich said...
...using these private ratings to evaluate the safety of banks' holdings, among other things, but the importance of the agencies waned following World War II as bond defaults became rare. The economic turbulence of the 1970s raised the industry's profile again. In 1975, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) deemed certain firms "nationally recognized statistical ratings organizations"--making a sign-off from a ratings agency a necessity for anyone selling debt. But ratings also became a stamp of actuarial approval that often let investors and regulators skimp on their own due diligence...
Meanwhile, the agencies' business model morphed from one in which investors paid for ratings to one in which bond issuers did. That generated more revenue, but it also created a massive conflict of interest, often cited in the current mortgage mess. In 2006, the SEC took regulatory authority over the agencies, in part because of their failure to ring more alarm bells concerning companies like Enron. SEC head Mary Schapiro is now signaling that the ratings system might need to be changed further, particularly who pays for ratings...