What are auction rate securities? How did these securities cause billions in losses to investors and businesses?

Auction rate security, according to Wikipedia, "refers to a debt instrument (corporate or municipal bonds) with a long term maturity for which the interest rate is regularly reset at a dutch auction."

Throughout the 1990s and up to 2008, bank loans became more expensive. As a result, ARSs became increasingly attractive. They were lower in cost and flexible for variable rate debt. Auctions were typically held every 7, 28 or 35 days.

So what happened to cause such big losses?

Continue reading Has Wall Street betrayed businesses with auction rate securities?

Has Wall Street betrayed businesses with auction rate securities? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 01 Sep 2009 10:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Brokerage house Charles Schwab & Co. (NASDAQ: SCHW) is facing the wrath of New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo. The state's top attorney sent a letter to Schwab last Friday, warning that he plans to sue the firm for civil fraud in relation to its marketing and sales of auction-rate securities (ARS). Cuomo added that he is open to a possible settlement, although Schwab must be willing to repurchase ARS from its investors who are still holding them.

In response, Schwab is defending itself. "The Attorney General's allegations are without merit," stated the brokerage firm. "They unfairly lay blame on our company for an illiquid market and improper behavior by the large Wall Street firms."

Continue reading Charles Schwab faces fraud suit from NY Attorney General Andrew Cuomo

Charles Schwab faces fraud suit from NY Attorney General Andrew Cuomo originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 20 Jul 2009 12:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

It was a year ago today that I wrote my first post on Auction Rate Securities (ARS). That was when people who thought their money was in something safe, like a money market fund used to be, found out their funds were frozen. And 7,678 comments later, there are still people who have not gotten their money back. But it isn't for lack of trying -- they've contacted regulators, journalists, and Congress in their efforts. Some have succeeded and some have not.

The $330 billion ARS market was originally created for companies to park their short-term cash safely while financing various municipal projects. The rates on the ARS would reset in weekly or monthly auctions. But then a change in an accounting rule made it unattractive for companies to invest in ARS. So in order to keep the ARS market from collapsing, brokers started to support the auctions themselves and pushed hard to dump those ARS on their unsuspecting "wealth management" customers -- e.g., individual investors.

Continue reading Auction Rate Securities (ARS) anniversary: A year of pain and battles

Auction Rate Securities (ARS) anniversary: A year of pain and battles originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 27 Feb 2009 12:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

There has been much fear mongering in Washington over the last year as the financial crisis has built to a boil. But despite the most recent efforts to scare Congress and the American people into action, there has been very little light shed on some basic questions.

And I believe that before another penny of American taxpayers money is spent, our leaders need to spend more time explaining what is going on and why change is required. What we are facing is a crisis of confidence -- we are witnessing the erosion of trust in our leaders and our financial system.

People no longer believe our leaders have our best interests at heart. In the wake of the Auction Rate Securities scandal, people doubt the basic fairness of our system. People do not know the details of their accounts -- for instance few people have read the prospectus of their money market funds. And there is a lack of powerful ideas to sustain people's belief in the system.

Continue reading 100 Year Crash: How did we get here? What should we do now? What about the future?

100 Year Crash: How did we get here? What should we do now? What about the future? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sun, 28 Sep 2008 22:19:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Historians are likely to look back on this week as one of the most significant in American economic history. This was the week that the government let Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. (NYSE: LEH) fail -- a record $639 billion bankruptcy, lent $85 billion to keep American International Group (NYSE: AIG) from collapsing, and pumped $300 billion into global financial markets to keep them from seizing up. But that turned out not to be enough to keep the markets afloat -- for that Hank Paulson needed the ultimate bailout.

While I don't remember much of the American History I studied in high school, one thing sticks with me today. It always seems that it takes a major crisis to get America to make big changes. It is never possible for leaders to foresee problems and take action to avert them before they turn catastrophic. The averting catastrophe approach always struck me as far smarter than the crisis approach. However, it seems that lawmakers need tangible evidence of prior bad outcomes to make the case that the status quo is deeply flawed and must change.

While he had already loosened up $800 billion in taxpayer money by Wednesday, Paulson needed an even scarier story to get Washington to agree to an additional $500 billion to create an agency to buy illiquid assets from financial institutions. What exactly did he tell Congress and the president to scare them into agreeing to this plan? AP suggests that he described evidence of the global financial market ceasing to function and painted a frightening picture of the economic and political chaos that would ensue if that functioning ceased for an extended period of time.

Continue reading How Paulson scared Washington into $500 billion bailout

How Paulson scared Washington into $500 billion bailout originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sat, 20 Sep 2008 08:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

DealBook reports that Fidelity Investments has agreed to buy back $300 million worth of auction-rate securities (ARS). This settlement is a first in the sense that the previous redeemers were ARS issuers. Fidelity is considered to be "downstream" from the issuers. And its decision to settle puts pressure on other downstream participants such as Oppenheimer and Raymond James.

Exactly what has Fidelity agreed to do? "According to the terms of the deal, the first struck with a 'downstream' seller of these securities, Fidelity will not pay a fine. The firm will buy back auction-rate securities from individuals, charities and institutional investors alike, making no distinction among investor classes, as previous settlements with other firms have," DealBook writes.

Of the $330 billion in ARS that were issued, only 10% have been redeemed so far -- "the big banks have repurchased more than $35 billion of the securities and paid more than $360 million in fines," according to DealBook. I am impressed that regulators are continuing to push hard to get ARS issuers to take care of these investors given all the distraction from the weekly collapse of one major financial institution after another.

Continue reading Fidelity is latest to join Auction Rate Securities redemption bandwagon

Fidelity is latest to join Auction Rate Securities redemption bandwagon originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 12 Sep 2008 17:36:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

The New York Times reports that two Credit Suisse brokers took Auction Rate Securities (ARS) fraud to a new level. They fabricated an ARS-issuing agency -- a made up student loan securitizer -- as they sold investors their most toxic Collateralized Debt Obligations (CDOs) backed by subprime mortgages and mobile home loans. Their deception is not new in concept -- evidence of ARS fraud has already emerged -- but the scope of the fraud is noteworthy.

Since I first began writing about the $330 billion ARS market -- long-term securities whose rates were reset in weekly auctions until they failed -- 6,162 comments have appeared from people trying to get their money back. And many of the issuers have announced settlements with authorities because investigators have found evidence that many of them were actively trying to dump the ARS from their own books into those of unsuspecting individual investors by telling them the ARS were safe and offered slightly higher-than-money-market yields.

But this Credit Suisse fraud reaches a different level. According to the Times, "Eric Butler, [who] sold customers some of the most toxic investments of the subprime age - [CDOs] - in what federal prosecutors characterize as a $1 billion bait-and-switch -- told those investors that they were getting "securities [that] were as safe as cash." The Times wrote that Butler "claimed, [that] the outfit that issued them, Glacier Education Loan, bought student loans guaranteed by the federal government. The problem: there is no such thing as Glacier Education Loan."

Continue reading Credit Suisse brokers take Auction Rate Securities fraud to new depths

Credit Suisse brokers take Auction Rate Securities fraud to new depths originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 04 Sep 2008 09:48:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Now eight large brokerage firms have settled with Auction Rate Securities (ARS) investors. This afternoon Bloomberg News reports Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) and Deutsche Bank settled with state regulators. Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc. (NYSE: MER) announced another prong of its settlement earlier in the day.

What are the terms of the settlement for the latest two? Bloomberg writes that "Goldman will buy back $1.5 billion of the securities and pay a $22.5 million fine. Deutsche Bank will redeem $1 billion of debt and was fined $15 million." In addition to the rogues gallery of big ARS issuers who have yet to settle, investigators are targeting medium-sized brokers -- Charles Schwab (NYSE: SCHW), Fidelity Investments and E*Trade Financial Corp. (NYSE: ETFC).

This leaves major ARS issuers lagging behind their peers. Here are three holdouts (with their 2007 municipal ARS issuance in parentheses):

• Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) ($3.7 B)
• RBC Capital Markets ($1.2 B)
• Lehman Brothers (NYSE: LEH) ($1.1 B)

What are they waiting for?

Peter Cohan is President of Peter S. Cohan & Associates. He also teaches management at Babson College and edits The Cohan Letter. He has no financial interest in the securities mentioned.

Goldman and Deutsche Bank join Auction Rate Securities settlement bandwagon originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 21 Aug 2008 19:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Bloomberg News reports that Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc. (NYSE: MER) has extended its Auction Rate Securities (ARS) redemption offer in response to what I thought was pressure from New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo who threatened to take Merrill to court. But what is interesting is that Massachusetts Secretary of State William Galvin was the one who announced the settlement.

While the politics of this intrigue me, those who held Merrill ARSs (pun intended) care about the terms of the settlement. Bloomberg reports that Merrill "will begin the buyback on October 15 for individuals, nonprofits and small business with $3 million or less on deposit. Redemptions for clients with $100 million or less start on January 15." This Merrill deal adds to the one it announced on August 7 -- a voluntary buyback of $10 billion worth of ARS. Merrill has a total of "30,000 clients who held an estimated $12 billion" according to Bloomberg.

This leaves many major ARS issuers lagging behind their peers. Here are four holdouts (with their 2007 municipal ARS issuance in parentheses):

• Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) ($4.3 B)
• Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) ($3.7 B)
• RBC Capital Markets ($1.2 B)
• Lehman Brothers (NYSE: LEH) ($1.1 B)

What are they waiting for?

Peter Cohan is President of Peter S. Cohan & Associates. He also teaches management at Babson College and edits The Cohan Letter. He has no financial interest in the securities mentioned.

Merrill caves to Galvin on Auction Rate Securities originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 21 Aug 2008 16:53:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

In December, 2002, ten of the most prominent brokerage firms in the country agreed to a massive settlement. The charges involved well-documented claims that analyst reports issued by these firms were deceptive. The firms sold out their retail clients to curry favor with their underwriting clients.

Among the settling firms were Citigroup (NYSE: C), UBS (NYSE: UBS), JP Morgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM), and Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS).

Their conduct was so bad that former Attorney General Spitzer agonized over whether to indict them for criminal conduct.

The industry unleashed a massive PR campaign. It convinced you that it saw the error of its ways. They had "reformed." You could trust them again with your hard earned assets.

And you did. Money flowed back in the coffers of these firms and others.

That was the first time.

Continue reading Naked Truth Investing: Can you be fooled three times?

Naked Truth Investing: Can you be fooled three times? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sun, 17 Aug 2008 10:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

The Wall Street Journal reports that Wachovia Corporation (NYSE: WB) is now the sixth major Auction Rate Securities (ARS) issuer to agree to buy back these long-term securities whose interest rates formerly reset in weekly auctions -- until those auctions failed in February. There seems to be a difference of opinion -- between New York's attorney general and the SEC and Missouri -- regarding the terms of Wachovia's deal.

Andrew Cuomo of New York thinks Wachovia will redeem $8 billion worth of ARS in November and will pay a $50 million fine. The SEC and Missouri Secretary of State Robin Carnahan said that Wachovia will buy back $5.7 billion by November 28th. The SEC said Wachovia will buy back an additional $3.1 billion in ARS in June 2009 according to the Journal. Wachovia seems to be leaning more to the two-step process outlined by Carnhan and the SEC.

Meanwhile, today's announcement leaves unredeemed the customers from the following top 10 municipal ARS issuers (their 2007 municipal ARS totals are in parentheses):

• Goldman Sachs ($4.3 B)
• Bank of America Corporation (NYSE: BAC) ($3.7 B)
• RBC Capital Markets ($1.2 B)
• Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. (NYSE: LEH) ($1.1 B)

I don't know what they're waiting for.

Peter Cohan is President of Peter S. Cohan & Associates. He also teaches management at Babson College and edits The Cohan Letter. He has no financial interest in the securities mentioned.

Wachovia jumps on the Auction Rate Securities redemption bandwagon originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 15 Aug 2008 17:24:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Bloomberg News reports that two more big banks -- JPMorgan Chase (NYSE: JPM) and Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) have made offers of $7 billion to 30,000 holders of Auction Rate Securities (ARS) -- those long-term securities whose yields reset in weekly auctions until the auctions failed this February. JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley also agreed to $60 million worth of fines. This brings to five the number of large firms that have settled so far. The Wall Street Journal reports that of the big firms that have yet to settle, Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) is proving to be among the most unhelpful to its clients.

Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal's James Stewart, who first got me writing about the ARS catastrophe, has finally broken his silence. And he seems to think that the ARS mess is much worse than he originally thought back in February. Stewart was shocked that brokers were unloading this toxic waste on customers so they could get it off of their books and out of the accounts of their executives. Stewart's reaction struck me as surprisingly naive -- particularly considering his long track record of reporting on Wall Street misdeeds.

Nevertheless, the problems with the frozen ARS continue to stress out investors who fell victim to Wall Street's chicanery. Among the top 10 municipal ARS issuers, the following have yet to offer any restitution to ARS holders (the value of their 2007 ARS issuance is in parentheses):

• Goldman Sachs ($4.3 B)
• Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) ($3.7 B)
• RBC Capital Markets ($1.2 B)
• Lehman Brothers (NYSE: LEH) ($1.1 B)
• Wachovia (NYSE: WB) ($0.6 B)

Continue reading JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley jump on the Auction Rate Securities settlement bandwagon

JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley jump on the Auction Rate Securities settlement bandwagon originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 14 Aug 2008 19:52:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Bloomberg News reports that banks' subprime write-downs have hit $500 billion. The last time I checked, that figure was $400 billion. Bloomberg reports that New York University economist Nouriel Roubini forecasts such losses will ultimately total $2 trillion. I wonder if he would revise his estimate upwards.

Recently banks have been taking write-downs for their Auction Rate Securities (ARS). Bloomberg reports about $1.9 billion has been set aside so far to cover ARS losses. It notes that UBS AG (NYSE: UBS) set aside $900 million to cover potential losses and Citigroup, Inc. (NYSE: C) and Wachovia (NYSE: WB) each estimate that their ARS buybacks will cost $500 million.

Write-downs have been going hand in hand with capital raising. But banks and brokers have not been able to raise enough capital to offset the losses. Bloomberg calculates that they've raised "$353 billion of capital to cope with the write-downs. The gap between the losses and capital infusions, which stands at $148 billion, has regularly narrowed to about $80 billion as capital raising follows write-down announcements."

Can banks and brokerages raise another $1.7 trillion to keep up with the write-downs that Roubini forecasts? I sincerely doubt it.

Peter Cohan is President of Peter S. Cohan & Associates. He also teaches management at Babson College and edits The Cohan Letter. He owns Citigroup stock and has no financial interest in the other securities mentioned.

Subprime write-downs total $500 billion -- just $1.5 trillion to go originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 12 Aug 2008 16:46:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

CNNMoney reports that Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) is the latest bank to buy back its worthless Auction Rate Securities (ARS) from individual investors. With that buyback, Morgan Stanley follows in the wake of Citigroup, Inc. (NYSE: C), Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc. (NYSE: MER) and UBS AG (NYSE: UBS).

CNNMoney notes that Morgan Stanley said it would offer to repurchase all ARS "held by individuals, charities and small and medium-sized business with accounts of $10 million or less at the bank." Morgan Stanley will begin to start buying back $4.5 billion worth of ARS on September 30th and will "make its best effort to provide liquidity solutions" for institutional investors by the end of 2009. But New York attorney general Andrew Cuomo is not satisfied with Morgan Stanley's proposal.

Meanwhile, the list of big ARS issuers that have not settled grows shorter. Here are six holdouts (with their 2007 municipal ARS issuance in parentheses):

• JPMorgan Chase (NYSE: JPM) ($5.2 B)
• Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) ($4.3 B)
• Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) ($3.7 B)

Continue reading Morgan Stanley latest to buy back Auction Rate Securities

Morgan Stanley latest to buy back Auction Rate Securities originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 12 Aug 2008 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Barron's (subscription required) reports that the news this week about Auction Rate Securities (ARS) leaves $220 billion worth of the $330 billion market still frozen. Those among the two-thirds of ARS holders who have not gotten any good news must have mixed feelings -- happy that some of their colleagues have the potential for relief, but wondering when they will get their money back.

The ARS market is complicated because the securities were issued in many different forms. Barron's reports that these issuers include "municipalities, closed-end funds, student-loan trusts and collateralized debt obligations [CDOs]." Many of these issuers have announced little, if any relief for those frozen in ARS hell. For example:

• Municipal ARS market has fallen 40% from $175 billion to $105 billion since the beginning of 2008 and only "5% to 8% of muni auctions are proceeding -- at interest rates of 8% to 15%."
• Closed-end funds have reduced the amount of ARS outstanding by 37% from $64 billion to $40 billion. For example, Nuveen's closed-end funds sold $500 million of variable-rate demand-preferred shares (VRDPs) last week to replace the same amount of ARS. (VRDPs' interest rates reset in auctions but have a put option that allows an investor to sell the VRDP to the bank running the auction if it fails). Barron's thinks that if the VRDP market functions, "more than 50% of closed-end-fund ARS could be redeemed" by the end of 2008.

Continue reading Barron's: Miles to go before Auction Rate Securities holders can sleep

Barron's: Miles to go before Auction Rate Securities holders can sleep originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sat, 09 Aug 2008 08:47:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

After nearly six months of stalemate, things are finally starting to happen for holders of Auction Rate Securities (ARS) -- the $330 billion of long-term debt whose yield used to reset in weekly auctions. This morning, The Boston Globe reports that UBS AG (NYSE: UBS) is poised to announce that it will redeem $19.4 billion worth of ARS and pay $150 million in fines, split between Massachusetts and New York. UBS follows Citigroup, Inc. (NYSE: C) and Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc. (NYSE: MER), which yesterday announced plans to redeem over $17 billion worth of ARS.

Why should you care? If you have money frozen in these securities, the reason is obvious. If not, what's happening here suggests three lessons for investors:

• Don't buy without knowing. Before you buy anything a broker is trying to sell you, read the prospectus, find out how the broker will be compensated for the sale, and if you don't understand what you're buying, don't buy it. Many people bought based on broker pitches that ARSs were cash equivalents, highly liquid, and yielded slightly more than money market funds. It turns out that ARS auctions started failing publicly last September.
• If your money becomes illiquid, make alot of noise. ARS investors contacted government officials and the media in an organized way. The public attention led to investigations by legal officials. That attention uncovered UBS e-mails demonstrating that brokerage firms decided to dump the toxic waste from their own books to the accounts of their individual customers -- even as their executives dumped the securities from their own portfolios.

Continue reading UBS to buy back $19.4 billion in Auction Rate Securities: Who will be next?

UBS to buy back $19.4 billion in Auction Rate Securities: Who will be next? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 08 Aug 2008 09:17:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc. (NYSE: MER) announced that it would follow Citigroup, Inc. (NYSE: C) in redeeming its Auction Rate Securities (ARS). Unlike Citi -- which plans to redeem $7 billion worth of ARS by November -- Merrill will take its sweet time. According to MarketWatch, from January 15, 2009, and through January 15, 2010, Merrill will "offer to buy at par" $10 billion worth of ARS it sold to 30,000 retail clients.

This is good news and it should get the ball rolling. But there are still at least $300 billion ARS which are not yet redeemed. The list of issuers reads like a who's who of the banking world. For instance, the Wall Street Journal reports that the top 10 municipal ARS issuers at the end of 2007 were as follows:

• Citigroup ($6.7 B)
• Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) ($5.2 B)
• JPMorgan Chase (NYSE: JPM) ($5.2 B)
• Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) ($4.3 B)
• UBS AG (NYSE: UBS) ($4.2 B)

Continue reading Merrill Lynch follows Citigroup in redeeming its Auction Rate Securities

Merrill Lynch follows Citigroup in redeeming its Auction Rate Securities originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 07 Aug 2008 18:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

The Washington Post reports that Citigroup, Inc. (NYSE: C) has agreed to buy back $7 billion worth of Auction Rate Securities (ARS) it sold to its clients. Citi will also pay a $100 million civil fine. This is a great move for individuals and companies that bought this toxic waste. The question is -- will the rest of the $330 billion ARS industry follow Citi's lead?

Citi will buy back the debt from 40,000 customers around the U.S. by November 5. And the $100 million fine will be split -- $50 million to New York and $50 million to the North American Securities Administrators Association. Cuomo had accused Citi of "wrongly telling customers that auction-rate debt was safe, liquid and the equivalent of cash." It looks like current CEO Vikram Pandit wanted to clear the decks of a problem he inherited and in so doing help to clear Citi's name.

But the question is whether Cuomo -- having achieved this considerable victory for defrauded ARS customers -- will have the clout to clear the rest of the $330 billion worth of ARSs that were frozen. There are many other firms -- including Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc. (NYSE: MER) and UBS AG (NYSE: UBS) which have their own frozen ARS problems. And until all of these firms make their investors whole, a dark cloud will hang over their reputations.

This cloud could seriously damage their future prospects when the industry recovers a few years hence. The sooner the rest of the industry follows Citi's lead, the better.

Peter Cohan is President of Peter S. Cohan & Associates. He also teaches management at Babson College and edits The Cohan Letter. He owns Citigroup stock and has no financial interest in the other securities mentioned.

Cuomo gets Citi to buy back $7 billion worth of Auction Rate Securities: What about the other $325 billion? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 07 Aug 2008 15:13:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

BusinessWeek has provided investors a valuable public service by reading through rafts of e-mails subpoenaed by Massachusetts and New York in their suits against UBS AG (NYSE: UBS). Its analysis reveals that the collapse of the $330 billion Auction Rate Securities (ARS) market -- in which customers bought what they were told were cash-like investments with slightly higher yields that reset in weekly auctions -- did not collapse in the way that ARS peddlers claimed. And this difference between what BusinessWeek reveals and what ARS peddlers claim could put the peddlers in deep legal yogurt.

ARS peddlers claim the weekly auctions were going great until February 2008 when they suddenly failed. BusinessWeek found that ARS auctions began failing over two years earlier than the ARS peddlers claimed. Specifically, it found that "from January 2006 through February 2008, UBS bought securities at 88% of the 30,000 auctions it ran" because not enough buyers showed up at the auctions. And UBS and 15 other brokerages failed to disclose that they were propping up the auctions. As a result, in 2006, the SEC fined those brokerages $13 million -- including Citigroup (NYSE: C) and Merrill Lynch & Co. (NYSE: MER) -- for "failing to disclose that they sometimes supported the auctions."

Despite their efforts to support the auctions, ARS inventories accumulated on brokers' books. By August 2007, UBS's inventory had tripled to $3 billion, from $1 billion in March 2007. David Shulman, the UBS executive in charge, mobilized his 850 brokers to dump the ARSs from UBS' books to its private client accounts. But Shulman, who is on-leave from UBS, front-ran that trade. As BusinessWeek reported, "Only hours earlier, Shulman had moved to cut his personal exposure. E-mails show that UBS's compliance department cleared him to sell $475,000 worth of auction-rate securities from his own account."

Continue reading Evolution of the Auction Rate Securities scam

Evolution of the Auction Rate Securities scam originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 31 Jul 2008 12:19:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Imagine your broker parked your funds in an account that he said would be as safe as a money market fund but offer slightly higher yields. If you went for that line, you might now be among those who hold the $330 billion worth of Auction Rate Securities (ARS) whose weekly price-setting auctions stopped working in February. Now, Bloomberg News reports that those who are trying to get at their funds through arbitration will be lucky to receive 22 cents on the dollar.

I first began posting on the ARS market back in February. Since then 5,482 comments have appeared from people trying to unfreeze their funds from what their brokers told them were safe investments. Massachusetts and New York have sued one of the ARS hawkers -- UBS AG (NYSE: UBS) -- thanks to e-mails that indicated that when the ARS auctions failed, UBS decided to dump this toxic waste on individual investors rather than take the losses on its own books. New York's attorney general found that UBS executives sold $21 million worth of their ARS holdings before launching this campaign to dump them on the public.

Many are now trying to get their money back through a process called arbitration. If your claim is above $50,000 you will face a panel of three judges, two "public" and one of whom represents the ARS industry. Bloomberg reports that the process for choosing the panelists virtually assures that consumers will be judged by a representative of the industry that defrauded them. So it's no wonder that arbitration rulings have given investors enormous haircuts.

Continue reading Will Auction Rate Securities holders get 22 cents in arbitration?

Will Auction Rate Securities holders get 22 cents in arbitration? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 30 Jul 2008 10:35:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.