1 min readState and federal regulators have reached a $19.4 billion agreement with UBS Financial Services Inc. to settle charges that the firm misled investors into buying bonds that were far riskier than advertised, according to people briefed on the talks. By Beth Healy https://archive.boston.com/business/articles/2008/08/08/ubs_will_buy_back_bonds_for_194b/
1 min readUBS has been charged with manipulating the auction-rates securities market before its collapse.
5 min readMassachusetts securities regulators today are expected to file civil fraud charges against UBS Financial Services Inc. for allegedly selling investments it claimed were as safe as cash even though the Swiss firm knew they were risky, according to a state official briefed on the case. The complaint, to be filed by the state Securities Division,…
1 min readWall Street firms may have led their own brokers to believe auction-rate securities were safer than they really were, by labeling them as cash investments and failing to warn brokers of their risks, according to customer records and interviews. By Beth Healy https://archive.boston.com/business/markets/articles/2008/06/17/brokerage_practices_draw_criticism/
1 min readAt last week’s Treasury Management Association of New England conference, Capital Advisors Group Director of Investment Research Lance Pan urged the audience of corporate treasurers and money fund professionals attending his “Check-Up on Institutional Money Market Funds Presentation to, “preserve the sanctity” of the money fund. “It’s truly a great product,” he said. Pan discussed…
10 min readRussell Paquette liked auction-rate securities (ARS) as much as the next treasurer. At Recreational Equipment Inc. (REI) in Kent, Wash., he had been particularly attracted to those backed by student loans. “They were AAA-rated, over-collateralized by 30% and roughly 97% guaranteed by the Department of Education,” the REI treasurer points out. But when asset-backed investments…
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4 min readInvestors stuck with unwanted auction rate securities may soon find a way out. Independent trading networks are stepping in where Wall Street’s major banks fled, creating secondary markets for trading these securities, once viewed by wealthy individuals and other investors as being as good as cash. Lately, however, they have become about as illiquid as…